
Class 



1>A 9/ i. 



Book_^LM 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 
CELT ABOVE THE 

SAXON 

OR 

A Comparative Sketch of the Irish 

AND English People in War, 

IN Peace and in 

Character 

BY 

REV. C. J. HERLIHY 

Second and Revised Edition 



Angel Guardian Press 

Publishers and Bookbinders 

Boston, Mass. 



•>k 



^ 






IITbrary oTcongress 

Two CoDies Received 
APR 6 '906 
jf\ Copyright Entry 

CLASS CL: XXC, No, 
COPY B. 



\7^ 



6^ 



Copyright, 1904 

by 

Rev. C. J. Herlihy 



INDEX. 



PART L 
The Celts and Anglo-Saxons in War. 

chapter. page. 

I. The Celts. — A Glance at Their 

Early History. . . . . i 

II. The Anglo-Saxons. — A Word on 

Their Early History. . 7 

HI. The English Conquest of Ireland. 13 

IV. Irish Victories Over THE English, ig 

V. Victories of the English Over 

THE Irish. — A Tale of English 
Brutality. . . . .28 

VI. Irish Victories Over the English 

in Foreign Lands. . . - i^ 

VII. The Irish and English Soldier 

Compared. . . . -49 



INDEX. 



PART II. 
Ireland and England in the Arts of Peace, 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. The Poverty of the Irish. . , 6i 

II. Prosperity of England. . . 85 

III. Celtic and Saxon Architecture 

and Art. 105 

IV., The Celt and the Saxon in the 

Realms OF Science. . . . ^13 

V. A Comparative Glance at Irish 

and English Literature. . .126 

VI. Celtic and Saxon Music and 

Poetry. ..... 148 



INDEX. 



PART III. 
Irish and English Character. 

chapter. page. 

I. General Characteristics of the 

Celt and the Saxon. . .167 

II. Irish and English Morality. . 178 

III. Alleged Irish Intemperance. . 200 

IV. Are the Irish an Envious Race? 212 

V. English Unscrupulousness. . 223 

VI. The Ever-Faithful Isle and the 

Land of Infidelity. . . . 238 

VII. The Future of the Celt and the 

Saxon 265 



To 

DIVISION 53, A. O, H., 

©f which i have the honor to be the 

First Chaplain, 

this little volume is cordially 

dedicated. 




REV 



H E R L I H Y 



PREFACE. 



iINCE the English conquest of Ireland many 
books have been written on various historical 
Anglo-Saxon and Celtic subjects; but so far 
as we are aware, no author has yet made a critical 
comparison of the Irish and the English races, their 
place in history, their achievements in war and peace, 
but above all, their character. It is thus that we can 
determine which is the superior race. It is not al- 
ways the race that is most successful in war which ex- 
cels; for the savage Goths, Huns, and Vandals, once 
conquered the highly civilized Romans, the masters 
of the world. What most determines race supe- 
riority is grandeur and sublimity of character; but 
in every respect we shall find that the Celtic race com- 
pares favorably with the Anglo-Saxon. 

We know that comparisons are odious; but we do 
not make them of our own choice; they have been 
thrust upon us. For a long time the haughty English 
have been going around the world brow-beating the 
weak and boasting so loudly of their superiority over 
other races, especially the Irish whom they look 
upon as an inferior race, that a great many well- 
meaning people have come to regard it as a fact. 

Before the late Boer War took some of the con- 
ceit out of our English cousins, they imagined that 



there was nothing good or great in the world except the 
Anglo-Saxon race. Whenever anyone performed a 
heroic deed, immediately they deduced the inference 
that he must be ''English you know." But if any- 
one was ever guilty of cowardice, straightway they 
formed the conclusion that there could not have been 
a drop of EngHsh blood in his veins. When Admiral 
Dewey sunk the Spanish fleet at Manila, they even 
declared that his success was due to English sharp- 
shooters, who manned his guns. On the other 
hand, when the French ship, Bourgogne, went down 
on the high seas and the panic-stricken crew did not 
exhibit remarkable bravery in saving the passengers, 
again the Anglo-maniacs shook their heads and said: 
"Such a state of things could never happen on an 
English vessel." Most comical of all was a little 
episode that happened down off the coast of Hull a 
few years ago. Nothing can better illustrate to what 
absurd extremes Anglo-Saxon race pride can go. An 
Irishman, an Italian, and a Portuguese, in a small 
boat, set out in a raging storm to rescue a drowning 
man; and by great heroism succeeded in bringing 
him safely to land. But in the evening papers the 
event was described as "A remarkable instance of 
Anglo-Saxon pluck and bravery." 

Yet these brave rescuers are the very men whom 
the proud Englishman looks down upon with contempt 
as members of an inferior race. Only a short time 
ago a certain Englishman flushed with wine, at a 
banquet in Boston, publicly made the statement that 
'all the Irish were good for was to make English 

ii 



domestics." Tliat man would hardly have dared to 
say that if he were sober ; yet what he stated so bluntly 
that night is the opinion of a great many other English 
people, if they only had the courage to express it. 

Not only Englishmen, but even in this "land of 
the free and the home of the brave" we have a large 
number of Anglo- maniacs who have the very same 
idea. A few years ago, I happened to go over one 
evening to Harvard College, to hear the debate be- 
tween the students of Harvard and Yale. The sub- 
ject of controversy was, ''Resolved that the United 
States should grant their independence to the Philip- 
pinos." Harvard had the negative side and one of 
her debaters was a colored young man, who was 
certainly a very clever speaker; but whether he owes 
his cleverness to a little drop of English blood in his 
veins or not I cannot say. Whether he derived his 
Anglo-maniac ideas from that source, or from his 
school-books, or from his Alma Mater, which, they 
say, is the hot-bed of Anglo-mania, I do not know. 
At any rate, the sum and substance of his argu- 
ment was that the Philippinos did not deserve their 
independence, because they did not belong to the 
Anglo-Saxon race; for that was the only race worth 
mentioning that had ever yet lived upon the earth. 
Perhaps the shrewd young negro was only "pla}dng to 
the galleries;" but he certainly gained his point; for 
his words were received with tremendous applause 
from the Anglo-maniacs present. It is needless to 
say that his side won. 

But, saddest of all is it to observe these Anglo- 

iii 



maniac notions creeping in gradually among som_e of 
our Irish-Americans and even Irish people who have 
lived here for a long time. Constant environment 
seems to have so infected them with this fatal microbe 
that some actually become ashamed of their own 
race and religion; and others go so far as to change 
the good old Irish name which they received in bap- 
tism, substituting for it the name of some English 
persecutor of their ancestors. I am convinced, there- 
fore, that the Catholic Church in America has lost 
more adherents on the score of nationality than of 
religion. A great many weak-minded people look 
upon the Catholic Church and the Irish as one and 
the same. But as they regard the Irish as an inferior 
race, they imagine, that by renouncing Catholicity 
they will be with the dominant party. In America 
everybody wants to be with the mnners. 

It is high time, therefore, that we accept the chal- 
lenge and make a real, impartial comparison between 
the Celtic and the Anglo-Saxon races, so as to dis- 
illusionize those unfortunates whose eyes have been 
dazzled by the glare of Anglo-mania. If our efforts 
contribute even in a small way to strengthen the weak 
spirit of any Celtic readers who may be wavering in 
their fidelity, to faith or fatherland, our labor will not 
be in vain; for we shall have conferred a benefit not 
only on the Irish race but on the Catholic Church also. 

However, it is not at all our intention to offend the 
good honest, plain people of England, who are the 
friends of Ireland and many of them the descendants 
of Irishmen. Some of our very best friends are 

iv 



English and as they are very estimable people, we 
should not for the world say a word to offend them. 
Whatever reflections therefore we may cast upon the 
English are not intended for them but for the English 
Lords and privileged classes who are the common 
enemies of Ireland and of their own race as well. 

It may be well to state also that whilst endeavoring 
to correct the abnormal pride of the Saxon, it is far 
from our desire to give the Celt an overweening idea 
of his own importance. Celts as well as Saxons m_ust 
remember that themselves are not the only great 
people who ever lived on the earth. There are other 
races just as great. God never intended to give one 
race a monopoly of all the brain, all the brawn, all 
the virtues, all the perfections, and all the accomplish- 
ments in the world. Hence some races excel in one 
point, others in another. 

Our purpose therefore is, whilst criticising the 
weaknesses and faults both of the Anglo-Saxons and 
the Celts to point out to each the good qualities of the 
other, so that they may respect each other and dwell 
together as good friends and neighbors. In the 
words of the late John Boyle O'Reilly: 

'^ Indian and Negro, Saxon and Celt, Teuton, and 
Latin and Gall, 

Mere surface shadows and sunshine; while the sound- 
ing unifies all. 

One love, one hope, one duty theirs; no matter the 
time or kin, 

There never was separate heart-beat in all the races 
of men." „ 



INTRODUCTION. 



ON the eighth anniversary of our elevation to the 
holy priesthood it gives us great pleasure to in- 
troduce to our readers our first publication en- 
titled "The Celt Above the Saxon." As this is our 
initial effort in the field of literature, we crave the 
indulgence of the public for the many errors and im- 
perfections which, no doubt, appear in these pages. 
As these lines were penned hastily, at widely separated 
intervals, during the few leisure moments snatched 
now and then from the active work of the ministry, 
in a busy city parish, we make no pretence to any ex- 
cellence in literary style or polish. Neither do we 
make any claim to any remarkable originality of 
thought or research. The facts indeed are the same 
as of old ; the only thing original is the plan. As the 
florist out of the very same flowers makes an infinite 
variety of floral designs, so have we endeavored from 
the old trite facts to design a new literary work. As 
far as we know, no other author has ever yet followed 
out the same identical plan. The first part of this 
little work is a comparative sketch of the Irish and 
English in war; the second part is a comparison be- 
tween the two races in the arts of peace; and the 
third part is mainly a contrast between them in 
character. 

▼ii 



It may interest the reader to know how we happened 
to start this little book. It was from the perusal of 
a book entitled : ^ ^ The Priests and People of Ireland , ' ' 
which vilely slanders our race and praises the English 
to the sky. Worse still, the author of this scur- 
rilous attack on his countrymen is himself a degenerate 
Irishman by the name of Michael McCarthy. It 
was m.ainly to refute his calumnies that these lines 
were penned. 

It was perfectly natural therefore that we should 
laud the virtues and perfections of the Celts and 
demonstrate how far superior they are in almost every 
respect to the Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, we have 
endeavored also to be as fair, as impartial, and as 
charitable as possible to our English cousins. If at 
times our language may appear too severe in denun- 
ciation of England, it is because, like a great many 
of our countrymen, we consider her the author of all 
the evils of our native land; because we hold her re- 
sponsible for driving us from the home of our child- 
hood to a land of exile; and because we saw so many 
exhibitions of her tyranny in our youth. Such con- 
siderations naturally fill the heart with feelings of 
bitterness and indignation which it is very hard to 
repress. Yet we have striven to relate only the plain 
truth, not to exaggerate anything, and to be as moder- 
ate in our expressions as possible. Still we have no 
doubt whatever that if a man were to write a book 
like this in any country in the world beneath the Eng- 
lish flag he would be cast into prison for life. But 



VIU 



the arm of the tyrant is paralyzed in this land of the 
free, where we enjoy the privilege of free speech. 

In the composition of this little publication we are 
greatly indebted to ''The History of Ireland," by 
Sullivan, ''The Handbook of English History," by 
Guest, "Ireland and Her Story," by Justin McCarthy, 
"Ancient Irish Schools and Scholars," by Bishop 
Healey, "Catholic and Protestant Countries Com- 
pared," by Father Young, C. S. P., "The Dictionary 
of Statistics," by Mulhall, "The Prose and Poetry 
of Ireland," by Murray, "The Irish Sketch Book," 
by Thackeray, and many other reference books in a 
minor degree. 



IX 



P^RT I. 



THE CELT ABOVE 

THE SAXON. 




CHAPTER I. 

The Celts.™ a Glance at Their Early History. 

IHE words Saxon and Celt are generic terms 
and have frequently a very wide signification. 
Authors often use the proper name Saxon to 
designate not only the inhabitants of England but 
also those of Germany and Scandinavia. So likewise 
they include in the Celtic race not only the people of 
Ireland but also those of northern France, the High- 
lands of Scotland, and a portion of Italy, How- 
ever, we shall always employ these appellations in 
their restricted sense to signify only the Irish and 
English. 

Like most other nations, the early inhabitants of 
Ireland were not of one race; they were a composite 
nationality composed of three distinct races that came 
to the island in three successive waves of emigration. 
Where the earliest settlers came from seems clouded 
in obscurity. The next band of colonizers are sup- 
posed to have come at a very remote period from the 



2 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

land of ancient Greece, and indeed this seems not at 
all improbable, for in spite of all their persecutions 
by the English of later times, are not many of the 
Irish the same brilliant, witty, generous, warm- 
hearted, imaginative sort of people as the citizens of 
ancient Greece? Moreover, anyone who is at all 
acquainted with Irish and Greek cannot fail to observe 
how much the Gaelic tongue resembles the beautiful 
language of Homer and Xenophon. 

The last race of early Irish settlers, called Milesians, 
after their great leader Milesius, came from the East 
by way of Spain. There are many circumstances 
that seem to confirm this. As the celebrated Irish 
statesman and historian, Justin McCarthy, has well 
said: "The Irish are evidently of an oriental origin, 
being fond of out-door life, like all people beneath the 
sunny skies of the East and using their cottage chiefly 
as a sleeping-place." 

The exact location of our Milesian ancestors' orig- 
inal home in the East it is now impossible to deter- 
mine; but it is generally supposed to have been in 
Phoenicia, a country adjacent to the Holy Land. 
There are many circumstances which seem to indicate 
this. It is well known that the Phoenicians were 
amongst the earliest and most famous navigators 
and traders known to the antique world, and were 
always wandering in search of new homes, and found- 
ing new colonies. Between the nineteenth and thir- 
teenth century before Christ, they established many 
colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean; and 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 3 

arc believed to have finally made their abode in 
Ireland. 

All the traditions of our forefathers appear to con- 
firm this hypothesis. According to an old Irish 
legend, during their wanderings in the East, our 
Milesian ancestors met the great Jewish law-giver, 
Moses, who miraculously cured one of their number 
of the bite of a serpent and predicted that his descend- 
ants would one day inhabit a country in which no 
venomous reptile could live. Everyone knows that 
this land of prophecy is Ireland. 

There is only one fault with which we can reproach 
our Milesian progenitors — they won Ireland by the 
sword. Yet how different was their conquest from 
that of the Anglo-Saxons of later times! They did 
not come with any hypocritical pretence of reforming 
the country, like the English of a subsequent period; 
but in an honest, manly way to gain the island in a 
square, open fight. In fact their conduct to the earlier 
settlers was chivalry itself. These claimed that the 
Milesians by coming upon them so suddenly had 
taken them at a disadvantage; and as they had no 
opportunity to be prepared to receive them, it would 
not be fair to win the island in that way. They stip- 
ulated therefore that the Milesians should again 
betake themselves to their galleys, withdraw a cer- 
tain distance from the shore and then, if they could 
effect a landing the second time, they should be im- 
mediately recognized as the absolute masters of the 
whole country. 



4 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Like generous foes, the Milesians consented and 
having effected another landing, defeated the original 
settlers in a great battle and soon gained control of 
the whole island. But though victorious, they were 
very magnanimous to their defeated adversaries, 
for they allowed them to regulate their own affairs 
and to enjoy what at the present day we might call 
Home Rule. Where is the Englishman who would 
treat his opponents with so much generosity? 

It is impossible to determine the exact date on 
which the Milesians settled in Ireland. But as bib- 
lical commentators state that Moses lived about 
fifteen centuries before Christ, and as the Milesians 
did not set out on their wanderings westward until 
the third generation after the famous prediction made 
to them by the great Hebrew leader, they are supposed 
to have reached Ireland about fourteen hundred 
years before Christ. To our modern readers this 
date may appear entirely too remote; but everything 
indicates that the Milesian dynasty in Ireland goes 
back to a very early period. At the present day, our 
''English cousins" declare that the Irish are incapable 
of self-government, yet we know from the Irish 
chronicles that Ireland had an excellent government 
of its own fifteen hundred years before the Saxons set 
foot in Britain, when according to the testimony of 
Guest J one of their own historians, they were no better 
than "sea- wolves and pirates.** In fact two thousand 
years before an English parliament was dreamed of, an 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 5 

Irish monarch had instituted a triennial pariiament 
to help him to govern the kingdom. 

Ireland also made great advancement in civiliza- 
tion under the Milesian dynasty. At the present day, 
after eight centuries of EngHsh government, agri- 
culture is almost the only industry in Ireland. Yet, 
nearly three thousand years ago, under her native 
kings, Ireland carried on a thriving industry in gold- 
mining, smelting, and artistic work in the precious 
metals, at a time when civilization had scarcely dawned 
upon other European countries. Even then our ances- 
tors knew how to read and write; and their bards had 
cultivated the art of poetry to a very high degree ; though 
at the present day, after centuries of Anglo-Saxon 
''enlightenment," the Irish people are reproached for 
their ignorance and ilHteracy. 

But as every tide has its rise and its fall so every 
country has its day of glory and its day of decay. The 
period immediately preceding the coming of St. Patrick 
to Ireland may well be called the pre-Christian golden 
age of Ireland's glory. These were the days when the 
Irish warrior was feared not only in England, then 
called Britain, but even in Italy and France. It is well 
known that it was to protect themselves from the Irish 
that the ancient Britons, to their sorrow, invited over 
the Anglo-Saxons to help them. The Roman poet 
Claudian also relates how the Irish monarch, Niall 
of the nine hostages, came with his army thundering 
into France in the fourth century; and Theodosius 
the Great, then Roman Emperor, sent his General 



6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Stellicho against him. It is supposed that it was 
this Irish king who carried St. Patrick when a boy 
as a prisoner to Ireland and thus paved the way for 
the subsequent introduction of Christianity into Erin. 

Ireland's military renown was followed by three 
centuries of the most incomparable religious glory 
during which she became known as "the island of 
saints and scholars." But now dark clouds began to 
gather over Ireland. The kings of Ireland began to 
quarrel among themselves and it was the ambition 
of each to become Ard-Ri or king of all Ireland, over 
all the others. This sad state of things continued 
for hundreds of years. 

In the meantime, the Danes, then a nation of pirates, 
like the Anglo-Saxons, thought they would take ad- 
vantage of the civil dissensions in Ireland to gain 
possession of the country. So they captured several 
seaport towns and overran a large part of the country, 
everywhere plundering and destroying churches and 
monasteries. Yet they were never able to give a king 
to the country; for in the eleventh century, a great 
Irish warrior, King Brian Boru, united all the Irish 
factions against them and inflicted upon them a crush- 
ing defeat at the Battle of Cloutorf. 

This annihilated the power of the Danes in Ire- 
land. But, unfortunately, as Brian Boru himself 
was killed in the hour or victory, the civil strife still 
continued in Ireland and paved the way a little later 
for the Saxon conquest of the country. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Anglo-Saxons, — A Word on Their Early 
History. 

PEOPLE who are unacquainted with history have 
so identified the words EngHsh and Anglo- 
Saxon that they seem to imagine that the Anglo- 
Saxons always lived in England; but that is a great 
mistake. The first inhabitants of England were not 
English at all but a Celtic race like the Irish, called 
Britons, from whom the island received the name of 
Britain. 

These Britons were once a brave and war-like race 
and for a long time they resisted the arms even of the 
Romans, the conquerors of the world. At length, 
however, they had to yield before the superior genius 
of Julius Caesar and other Roman generals. Then 
the Romans disarmed them and forbade them en- 
tirely the use of military weapons for hundreds of 
years. As a result the Britons forgot almost entirely 
the art of war, and, when, in the fifth century the 
Roman legions were called home to protect their 
own country, the Britons were no longer able to de- 
fend themselves against the Irish and Scots. Accord- 
ingly, in an evil hour, they invited in the Anglo-Saxons 
to help them. 

Up to this time not a single Anglo-Saxon had ever 
settled in England. The Anglo-Saxons were then 



8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

three Germanic tribes, comprising the Angles, the 
Saxons, and the Jutes; who lived in the southern part 
of Denmark, near the mouth of the Elbe. At the 
present day their English descendants may boast of 
their race; they may feel proud of their Anglo-Saxon 
origin, they may consider themselves fine ladies and 
gentlemen; and some of them may style themselves 
lords and duchesses ; but let them not vaunt too much 
of their ancestors; for at that time their forefathers 
maintained themselves as they have done ever 
since, by robbing and plundering their neighbors; 
and they were accustomed to go ravaging and pil- 
laging even to the coasts of Britain. 

What an ally then for the Britons to call to their 
assistance against the Irish and Scots! The poor 
Britons were soon to repent of their terrible mistake. 
The Anglo-Saxon came as a guest; but before long 
he turned his arms against his host, under the pretext 
that the Britons were not furnishing him sufficient 
supplies, as they had promised. But when did an 
Anglo-Saxon ever have enough? Whenever he 
m^anted to plunder his neighbor, he was never at a loss 
to find a plausible excuse, even to the present day. 

Accordingly, swords were drawn. The Britons 
and the Anglo-Saxons met in a great battle near 
London, about the middle of the fifth century; and 
of course the Anglo-Saxons were victorious. It was 
rather a massacre than a battle; for, as already ex- 
plained, during the Roman occupation the Britons 
had forgotten almost entirely the use of arms; so they 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

were like a poor unarmed man held up at night by 
a highway robber with his pistol. How different 
was the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Briton from the 
Milesian conquest of Ireland! Who has ever heard 
of the Anglo-Saxons betaking themselves once more 
to their ships, so as not to take their opponents at an 
unfair advantage, as our Milesian ancestors did at 
their conquest of Ireland? Yet, at the present day, 
we hear a great deal of Anglo-Saxon gallantry. But 
where was their gallantry in the conquest of Britain ? 
Where was the gallantry in conquering a poor dis- 
armed foe that had not handled a weapon for cen- 
turies? Where was their gallantry too after the 
battle? When our Milesian ancestors conquered 
Ireland, they gave the original settlers Home Rule; 
but what was the Home Rule which the Anglo- 
Saxons gave to the Britons ? A wholesale slaughter. 
The only ones that escaped were those who fled to 
the remotest part of the island in Wales or Cornwall. 
Having conquered the island, the Anglo-Saxons 
changed the very name of the country; and as the 
Angles were the largest and most powerful tribe of 
the conquerors, they gave to the country its new name 
of Angle-land, which was afterwards changed to 
England. Their next step was to divide the country 
into seven kingdoms, each kingdom governed by a 
petty king; w^ho was always at war with his neighbor. 
At the present day our English cousins ridicule our 
Irish forefathers, because at one time in such a small 
coimtry as Ireland they had actually four kings. But 



lo THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

it is well to remind them that England itself was 
once divided into seven petty kingdoms. The Eng- 
lish also at the present day reproach the Irish because 
they say they are continually quarrelling among 
themselves ; yet they should remember that one time 
these seven petty Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were mak- 
ing constant war upon one another for four hundred 
years. Why did not the English unite among them- 
selves during all these years ? Finally, they united it 
is true; but it was not a union of hearts; but unity 
brought about by force of arms, after one king of the 
heptarchy had thoroughly crushed the others and 
reduced them to subjection. 

It was a good thing for the English that they were 
thus united; because they had now to face a nation 
of sea- wolves and pirates even worse than themselves. 
These were the Danes. We have seen how the Danes 
put forth all their power to conquer divided Ireland, 
but were defeated ignominiously by Brian Boru. Yet 
the whole power of united England was not sufficient 
to withstand these same Danes. 

Instead of engaging them in honorable battle, as 
the Irish did, one English monarch gave them a bribe 
of ;£io,ooo to remain away from him. But, having 
spent the money, they soon came back and demanded 
more. So then this brave Anglo-Saxon king had 
resort to a well-known English trick. He planned 
in one night to massacre all the Danes in England. 
The plot succeeded, but soon brought its own retribu- 
tion, A new swarm of Danes soon returned to avenge 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ii 

their murdered kinsman; the English were com- 
pletely defeated; and the Danes became masters of 
the whole kingdom. However, they did not long 
enjoy their sovereignty; because very soon another 
race of robbers, the greatest freebooters of all, in- 
vaded England and gained the mastery over both the 
Anglo-Saxons and the Danes. These were the Nor- 
mans, a branch of the Scandinavian race that had 
settled in France and had learned from their French 
neighbors the military science that had been taught 
them centuries before by their Roman conquerors. 
These three great races of marauders now combined 
to make up the English race as it exists to-day. 

They readily coalesced, because they were all of the 
same race, and religion and originally came from very 
nearly the same place. Yet, for a long time the appel- 
lation by which the Norman conqueror addressed the 
conquered race was: "Dog of a Saxon;" and it was 
only after centuries that the three races entirely 
amalgamated. In fact, even to this day, England 
has still her Lords and Commons. What are these 
words but other terms for the conquerors and the 
conquered? No doubt many English lords have 
been promoted from the Commons ; but nearly all the 
English nobles of to-day are the descendants .of 
the old Norman conquerors. 

Have not our English friends, then, much reason 
to be proud of their ancestors ? A nation of robbers 
from the beginning, England has not ceased to plunder 
all the weaker nations of the world even to the prese^it 



la THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

day. Before the Normans landed in England at all, 
poor unfortunate Wales had fallen a victim to English 
rapacity. But now the Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and 
Normans all united into one nation were to carry on 
one long struggle of plunder and devastation against 
poor unfortunate Ireland. Either of these robber 
races, separately, Ireland might easily have repelled. 
We have seen how united Ireland once drove the 
Danes into the sea; but as these same Danes con- 
quered England, a fortiori, Ireland could conquer 
the Anglo-Saxons. But it was quite a different thing 
when these three robber races united and Ireland 
was divided against herself. Yet, however loudly 
our Anglo-Saxon friends may boast of their conquest 
of Ireland, it is not to them that the lion's share of 
the honor or dishonor goes, but to the Normans. 
Wliatever may be said of the Normans, they were 
certainly great warriors; they possessed the most 
improved military weapons and were well versed in 
the science of war. All that Ireland could present 
against them was the heroic courage of her sons 
and the righteousness of her cause. 



CHAPTER in. 

The English Conquest of Ireland. 

THERE is not the slightest doubt whatever that 
the average modern Englishman has a supreme 
contempt for the Irish and everything that is 
Irish. Any person with half an eye can see that. A 
short tjime ago a certain Englishman flushed with 
wine at a banquet here in the Athens of America 
publicly declared that "the Irish were fit only to be 
hewers of wood and d rawers of water, ' ' That is exactly 
the impression of most Englishmen if they only had 
the candor to acknowledge it. What is the underlying 
cause of this over- weening sense of superiority of the 
English over the Irish race? It is all summed up in 
a few words — the English conquest of Ireland. 

Let us therefore examine and see what claim Eng- 
land has to any honor or glory from the conquest of 
Ireland. Indeed it is exceedingly difficult to see any 
reason why England should wear a crown of laurels 
after that struggle. In all manly contests among fair- 
minded people there is an unwritten law that says: 
*'Take a fellow of your size;" and there has never yet 
been any applause for the man that defeated an op- 
ponent smaller than himself. 

Now England contains 50,000 square miles; Ireland 
comprises about 30,00© square miles; that makes 



14 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

England nearly twice the size of Ireland; and it is 
reasonable to suppose that the population of each 
country was in the same proportion. Wherefore, 
according to the most elementary laws of fair play 
where is the glory for England in conquering Ireland, 
an island only half its size? England has always 
been very courageous in attacking weaker nations; but 
she is very careful not to attack a strong power unless 
she has another powerful nation as her ally. 

But even though far superior in size to Ireland, Eng- 
land would never have conquered her if she had not 
been divided against herself. As the Gospel says: 
"Every kingdom divided against itself shall fall." So 
Ireland fell; but if she had only been united, she 
would have driven the English into the sea, as she 
hurled the Danes more than a century before. Where 
then is the glory for England in conquering disunited 
Ireland? Truly she deserves no more glory than a 
strong healthy man who overpowers another who is 
greatly inferior to him in size and whose right arm is 
broken and tied up in a sling. 

From a military point of view, therefore, it is im- 
possible to see how England deserves any credit or 
honor for having conquered Ireland. Still less is 
she entitled to any glory from a moral point of view. 
On the contrary her conquest of Ireland is the darkest 
stain in her character and, even though conquered, 
Ireland's behavior at that trying period is the brightest 
jewel in her crown. 

Ireland lost her independence In a glorious struggle 



The celt above the saxon t^ 

for virtue and morality, in chastising a wicked king 
for the breach of his marriage vows. This was Der- 
mott McMurrogh, who eloped with the wife of another 
Irish prince called O'Ruarc. If this had happened 
in ''merry England" it would have provoked only a 
smile; for when did England ever expel a lord or a 
prince for immoraUty? Yet nobody is ignorant of 
the moral standard of English high society for hun- 
dreds of years. 

But Ireland did not thus wink at the crime of 
McMurrogh. As old Pagan Rome, to her eternal 
credit be it said, for a similar offence, expelled even 
her own royal family, the Tarquins; so, all Ireland 
now rose up against McMurrogh and cried out: 
"Away with him! Away with him ! " 

Thus McMurrogh was expelled from Ireland and 
immediately fled to England, to seek the aid of the 
English monarch, in order to regain his kingdom. 
King Henry IL, who then sat on the EngHsh throne, 
took up the cause of the adulterer and gave him a 
powerful force of English adventurers to accompany 
him back to Ireland. McMurrogh secretly hurried 
back to Erin before them, in order to prepare for 
their landing. By feigning repentance for his crime 
and pretending that his only desire was to regain his 
kingdom, he rallied a powerful force around him and 
thus plunged the country into civil war. It was thus 
that the English first gained a foothold in Ireland; 
and finally conquered that kingdom. 

Now comes the question: On which side is the 



i6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

glory and on which side the shame in this conquest ? 
Certainly England has covered herself with eternal 
disgrace in leaguing herself with an adulterer and a 
traitor to his native land. Only a little while before, 
that "pious" English king, Henry II., so bewailed the 
excesses committed in Ireland, because of her civil 
dissensions that he is said to have obtained from 
Pope Adrian, the only Englishman that ever sat in 
the chair of Peter, a bull authorizing him to pacify 
the island, and reform the abuses that were creeping 
in against religion and morality. Now behold him 
unmasking his hypocrisy in allying himself with 
Dermott McMurrogh, the off-scouring of Ireland! 

On the other hand, Ireland though she lost her 
independence, was not at all dishonored. On the 
contrary, she covered herself with glory; for was it 
not more glorious to sacrifice even her independence 
than to tolerate such a monster as McMurrogh within 
her borders ? Yet if she had tolerated him she might 
have remained a free country even to the present day. 
But virtue and honor are better than even Uberty and 
independence. Well therefore has our national poet, 
Thomas More^ said: 

"On our side are virtue and Erin, 
On their side a?re Saxon and guilt." 

It is no disgrace to Ireland that she has produced 
such a monster as Dermott McMurrogh; for have 
not all countries given birth to such pests; and even 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 17 

America has had her Benedict Arnold ; just as Greece 
had her Ephiahes, and Rome her CataUne ? 

It is unfair too, to infer from this episode that the 
Irish are always divided and quarreUing among them- 
selves. No doubt the Irish have had their differences 
Hke other nations; for where is the nation that at some 
time in its history has not had its civil dissensions. 
How many civil wars arose among the Hebrews, the 
Greeks, and the Romans of old? Everyone who 
has read history will readily recall the great contests 
between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, Marius and 
Sulla, Pompey and Caesar. But why go back so far, 
when English and American history furnishes us with 
abundant examples? Besides the wars between the 
various kingdoms of the Heptarchy, which we have 
already mentioned, was there not a civil war just be- 
fore King Henry II 's reign between King Stephen 
and Matilda? Certainly he must have been very 
ungallant, to fight with a woman. No Irishman 
would do that. Again England had her Civil War 
of the Roses, wh^ch lasted thirty years. Besides she 
had her civil wars between King Charles I. and 
Cromwell and another between King James and 
William of Orange. If a powerful foe had de- 
scended upon England during these intestine troubles 
the kingdom was doomed. In fact some English 
historians claim that the Normans would never have 
conquered England if there had not been a civil war 
going on just before, between King Harold and his 
brother Tostig. But with such a record how can 



iS THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

any Englishman point the finger of scorn at the Irish 
and say: "You Irish are always quarrelling among 
yourselves ? " Finally, is it not a melancholy fact that 
even our own beloved America, when not yet a century 
old had her civil war ; and unity could not be restored 
until one part of the nation had crushed the other 
into a pulp. 

How then can we blame Ireland for her domestic 
quarrels? Yet though divided against herself, con- 
sider how many centuries it took England to conquer 
her. The Normans had conquered united England 
in one year; yet it took them five hundred years to 
conquer disunited Ireland. Ireland was not com- 
pletely conquered till the time of Queen Elizabeth, in 
the sixteenth century. 

In the meantime she dealt England many a 
staggering blow and defeated her best armies in many 
a pitched battled ; though usually in the end worn out 
by sheer force of numbers. Yfet, as we sometimes 
meet ignorant Englishmen, who assert that the Irish 
never won a battle and that they cannot fight except 
when they are under *' cool-headed English generals," 
in the succeeding chapter we shall recount at least 
a dozen pitched battles, in which the Irish defeated 
the EngKsh on the soil of Erin. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Irish Victories Over The English. 

IN order to get a graphic account of the many vic- 
tories which the Irish gained over the Enghsh it 
will be necessary to consult a regular Irish history 
such as Haverty's, McGee's, or Sullivan's. We have 
chosen to follow Sullivan's because it is the latest and 
it was written for American readers. According to 
this history, the EngHsh met with many a disastrous 
defeat from the hands of the Irish, from their very 
first attempt to conquer Ireland. In the year 1172, 
Strongbow, whom Henry II. had sent over to Ireland 
at the head of the English, to restore McMurrogh to 
his kingdom, met with a signal defeat at the hands of 
O'Brien, prince of Munster, and was cooped up in a 
fortified tower in Waterford. Thereupon, the Irish 
rose up against the Normans on all sides and if there 
had been any central government at that time to give 
unity to their attack they would have driven the Eng- 
lish into the sea. But, as the Irish lacked simulta- 
neousness of action, the Norman power on the very 
point of extinction was allowed slowly to recruit it- 
self and again to extend its power at a favorable 
opportunity. But still more glorious was the victory 
won over the English under Lord Maurice, a few 
years later, by the Irish prince, Godfrey O'Donnell. 



20 ^ THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXONl 

The English were greatly superior in numbers and 
were accompaniea by the flower of all the Norman 
chivalry, long the pride of England. But what the 
Irish lacked in numbers was compensated for by the 
genius of their general, who was one of the greatest 
commanders of the age. The two armies met near 
Sligo and the battle raged all day. In vain the mail- 
clad squadrons of England dashed upon the Irish 
lines; for before evening nearly all these lords, earls, 
and knights had been made to bite the dust. At last 
the EngHsh commander seeing, that in spite of his 
overwhelming odds, his case was getting desperate, 
resolved to stake everything on a single combat with 
the Irish leader. So dashing into the thickest of 
the fight he sought out Godfrey O'Donnell and dealt 
him a deadly wound; but the Irish chieftain with 
one blow of his battle-axe clove the Norman general 
to the earth, and he was carried senseless off the field. 
The EngUsh immediately fled in hopeless confusion 
and the Irish pursued them with great slaughter. 
Darkness alone saved them from being annihilated. 
Here was another grand opportunity for the Irish to 
have driven every Anglo-Norman from their country; 
but, unfortunately owing to their disunion, they failed 
to take advantage of such a favorable occasion. 

However, about the commencement of the four- 
teenth century the Irish chieftains at last began to 
realize that it was high time to put away their civil 
dissensions and to combine against the common foe. 
So they invited over a force of six thousaiid Scotch 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ti 

auxiliaries under Edward Bruce, to assist them in 
driving the EngUsh from their soil. The Scotch were 
only too willing to come in order to show their grati- 
tude for the generous aid that Ireland gave them 
to win their independence at the great battle of 
Bannockburn, from this same hated English foe. 
Accordingly, in the year 13 15, the allied army met their 
English foes under Earl Richard, called the "Red 
Earl." This proud Norman had boasted that in 
a few days he would dehver up Edward Bruce dead 
or alive at Dublin Castle; yet, though his army was 
greatly superior in numbers, he was completely de- 
feated and he himself was glad to escape with his 
life. 

In the following year, the Scotch-Irish army gained 
another great victory near Kells in King's County 
over fifteen thousand English, under Sir Roger Mor- 
timer, by a strange coincident, the namesake of our 
present English ambassador to the United States. 
Ireland came exceedingly near bursting entirely the 
shackles of England and regaining her ancient in- 
dependence at that time. Only one city of any im- 
portance still held out against the Scotch-Irish army 
and that was Dublin. It was impossible to capture it 
for lack of sieging materials and the absence of a 
fleet that would cut off its supplies from England. 

Worse still, one of those periodical famines, owing 
to the failure of the crops, that visit Ireland now 
fell upon the country; so that she could no longer 
maintain an army in the flekl. As a result, England 



tti THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

with all her resources finally^ conquered, Bruce was 
defeated and the great Scoto-Irish confederation 
dissolved. Irish unity melted away and the struggle 
against England during the next two centuries was 
carried on only by isolated Irish chieftains. 
I' We have a striking illustration of this during the 
reign of King Richard II. of England. It is really 
laughable to read the two campaigns which that mon- 
arch made against Art McMurrogh, the prince of 
Leinster. Though a descendant of McMurrogh, the 
traitor, he well redeemed the name of his ancestor. 
Although he had only three thousand men against 
thirty thousand under Richard II., by means of his 
fabian policy he made that poor sovereign as ridicu- 
lous as the Greeks made 'Hhe great kings" Darius 
and Xerxes at Marathon and Salamis. 

Finally, as King Richard could not conquer him in 
the open field, he resorted to the despicable system 
of warfare practised by England even to the present 
day; he actually put a price upon his head, offering a 
hundred marks in pure gold to the person who should 
bring to him in DubHn dead or aHve the troublesome 
prince of Leinster. 

Yet for twenty years McMurrogh met and defeated 
the best EngUsh armies under the ablest English 
generals. In 14 lo with a force of ten thousand men 
he fought a pitched battle against the Duke of Lan- 
caster, with an equal number of EngUsh. soldiers imder 
the very walls of Dublin and the English were defeated 
with great slaughter. So many were drowned in 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 23 

trying to make their escape across the River Lififey 
that this portion of the river is called the "ford of 
slaughter" even to the present day. 

The next great struggle for liberty which the Irish 
waged against England occurred in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth. It cannot be called a rebellion against 
lawful authority; for it was an outbreak provoked by 
England herself by means of a diabolical plot, for 
which history has no parallel. 

In a period of profound peace, Queen Elizabeth 
feared that her power in Ireland would never be on a 
safe footing until all the warlike Irish chieftains had 
been killed off. Accordingly, she ordered her com- 
mander-in-chief in Ireland, Sir Francis Cosby, to in- 
vite all the Irish princes to a grand banquet; but no 
sooner did they enter the banquet hall than they were 
set upon by a band of English soldiers who had been 
lying in ambush and massacred almost to a man. Of 
the four hundred wh o had accepted the invitation only 
one escaped with his life. This man very wisely had 
carried his sword with him and with its trusty blade 
hewed his way to liberty. 

Naturally this act of English treachery set the hearts 
of the Irish on fire to avenge their murdered country- 
men. So they fled to arms under the command of 
Hugh O 'Byrne whom the English called: "The 
Firebrand of the Mountains;" and before long they 
made the English pay dearly for their treachery, in 
the bloody battle of Glenmalure, in the year 1580. 

Lord Grey was now appointed viceroy of Ireland 



24 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

and sent over at the head of an imposing English 
army to crush the insurrection. He set out from 
Dublin at the head of his troops, in the same vain, 
glorious way that General BuUer lately marched forth 
against the gallant Boers. He thought only of " hem- 
ming in the Irish." So he constructed a strong 
earthwork or entrenchment at the mouth of the valley 
to prevent the Irish from escaping. Then he ad- 
vanced to measure swords with the "Firebrand of the 
Mountains." In the meantime, the Irish had posted 
themselves in a ravine on each side of the road through 
which the English marched, and not a sound escaped 
them until their foes were in the trap. Then all at 
once a fierce storm of bullets burst forth upon the en- 
tangled English legions; and like a torrent from the 
mountain the Irish swept down upon the struggling 
mass below. Immediately the English troops were 
thrown into the greatest confusion, then were 
seized with a panic and fled in the greatest disorder, 
many perishing in the very intrenchments which they 
had constructed to check the flight of the Irish. But 
of all the brilliant host that marched out of Dublin a 
few days before, only a few shattered companies now 
returned to tell the tale of disaster. 

A few years after this, Queen Elizabeth had a 
still more serious outbreak of the Irish to quell. This 
was the rebellion of Hugh Roe O'Neil, the Earl of 
Tyrone. When this man was a child he had been 
taken over to England by order of Queen Elizabeth 
and trained up at her own royal court as an English^ 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 25 

man; because she hoped that thus he might become 
useful afterwards as the tool of England in fighting 
some other Irish chieftain; and in this way, by creating 
dvil dissensions among his countrymen, he would 
render easy their complete conquest by England. 

But when O'Neil arrived at the age of manhood, 
went back to his native land, and saw how his people 
were tyrannized over and oppressed by the English 
Government, his heart was stirred within him. He 
found that though his education was English his 
blood was Irish and blood is thicker than water. 

Accordingly, he built up a powerful confederacy of 
Irish chieftains; unfurled the standard of rebellion 
and gave the English power in Ireland such a shock 
as it had not experienced for four hundred years. For 
ten years he defied the whole power of England and 
in several pitched battles defeated the very best 
generals that were sent against him. In the year 
1593 he had his first pitched battle with the English 
under General Norreys, on a river-bank near the city 
of Monaghan. Twice the English tried to cross the 
river but as many times were repulsed, the English 
general himself being wounded. As a last resort a 
chosen body of English cavalry charged desperately 
across the river and their leader, a Goliath in stature, 
singling out O'Neil engaged him in single combat; 
but the gigantic Englishman pierced by his opponent's 
sword soon lay dying upon the ground. Then the 
Irish made one grand charge and immediately the 
English fled m hopeless confusion, leaving the ground 



26 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

covered with their dead and, worst of all, leaving 
their proud English banner in the hands of the Irish. 

Again, in the year 1598, O'Neil at the head of five 
thousand Irish troops met Sir Henry Bagnal with 
six thousand English, mostly veteran troops, including 
five hundred knights sheathed in armor of steel. 
These two armies engaged in mortal combat on the 
banks of the River Blackwater. Here O'Neil brought 
into play the strategy that he had learned in England. 
Now he turned it against his instructors. He had 
some deep pits constructed in front of his lines covered 
over with wattles and grass; and when the gallant 
chivalry of England charged upon their Irish foes they 
plunged headlong into these trenches and perished. 
This unexpected disaster spread a fearful panic 
through the whole English army and they fled in all 
directions before the furious onslaught of the Irish. 
The English army was almost annihilated. Three 
thousand of England's bravest were left dead on the 
field; thirty-four English standards were taken, be- 
sides all their artillery; and twelve thousand pieces 
of gold fell into the hands of the conquerors. 

Hearing of these disasters, Queen Elizabeth now 
despatched into Ireland her own favorite, the Earl 
of Essex, with twenty-thousand men, probably the 
finest army that England had ever yet put into the 
field. Yet he was no match for O'Neil. He was de- 
feated in ©ne battle aft^ another; so that finally 
Elizabeth in a rage ordered him to the tower of 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON' 27 

London, where he paid with his head upon the block 
for his ill-success against the gallant O'Neil. 

Nevertheless, to the keen observer it must have 
been apparent that, in spite of all these brilHant vic- 
tories won by our forefathers, England must ultimately 
wear out the Irish by sheer force of numbers ; and that 
is exactly what happened. So in the following chapter 
we shall relate as impartially as we can the victories 
of the English over the Irish and the final subjugation 
of the island under Queen Elizabeth and Cromwell. 

However, we must not understand from this that 
we have now come to the last great stand of the Irish 
against their English oppressors. On the contrary, 
we might relate how within even half a century after 
this another O'Neil, Owen Roe, with five thousand 
four hundred Irish troops defeated General Monroe, 
a Scottish commander in the pay of England, with 
six thousand eight hundred men, near the city of 
Monaghan. The Scots fled pell mell and so many 
of them perished in trying to escape over the Black- 
water River that tradition says you might have crossed 
over dry shod on their bodies. This glorious victory 
was won just before Cromwell landed in Ireland. 
Unfortunately, the gallant Owen Roe O'Neil died 
soon afterwards; but if he had lived, even Cromwell, 
the butcher, might have had a different story to tell 
in Ireland. 



CHAPTER V. 

Victories of the English over the Irish, A 
Tale of English Brutality. 

IF we search the pages of history, we shall find that 
during the first four centuries after the Normans 
landed in Ireland they really gained very little 
foothold in the country, notwithstanding the civil 
dissensions of the Irish. There were only two very 
faint marks of English supremacy over the island; 
the first was the acknowledgment of the English 
king as the suzerain or over-lord of the country; the 
second was an English colony which Henry II. planted 
in the eastern part of the island, henceforth called the 
''Pale." 

The first mark of Englisn sovereignty over Ireland 
viz, the acknowledgment of the English monarch as 
the suzerain of the country, soon faded away; because 
it was the Irish Ard-Ri, or chief king of Ireland, 
Roderick II., that is said to have made this arrange- 
ment; but as there was no chief monarch of the country 
after his time, the treaty that he had made perished 
with him; and the individual Irish chiefs who had not 
bound themselves by this compact carried on the 
war with the English on their own responsibility, 
r The second mark of English supremacy, viz, the 
English colony within the '*Pale/' was\lso of very 



THE CELT ABOVE TSE SAXON ^ 

little consequence for hundreds of years. From the 
twelfth to the sixteenth century, or from the reign of 
Henry II. to Queen EUzabeth, the English colony 
had scarcely advanced a foot beyond its original 
limits. How can this be explained? Only on the 
hypothesis that the victories of the Irish retarded the 
spread of the English power. These are the victories 
which we have related in the previous chapter. 

During all these victories of the Irish over their 
English foes our forefathers always fought in a chival- 
rous, manly way. They never struck down an un- 
armed enemy, they never murdered a helpless prisoner, 
they never butchered defenceless women and children. 
In a word they never acted contrary to the rules of 
civilized warfare and not even their worst enemies 
ever made such an accusation against them down to 
the time of King Charles II. in the year 1641. What 
a glorious record for our ancestors during five hundred 
years! 

On the contrary during these same five centuries 
history tells us that the English gained about five 
decisive victories over the Irish and these victories 
were followed by scenes of barbarity and savagery 
which makes the very blood run cold. This was not 
the practice occasionally or periodically; but every 
time that the English gained a victory it was suc- 
ceeded by a saturnalia of inhumanity and butchery 
that would freeze the very life blood in one's veins. 

This uncivilized method of warfare the English 
commenced the very first year they set foot on the 



30 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

soil of Ireland anvx they have continued it ever since. 
Not only do Irish historians relate this but even Eng- 
lish authors themselves are forced to acknowledge it. 
Guest who was a college professor in London tells 
us in his: '* Handbook of English History," page 
1 68, how the English acted after the capture of Water- 
ford. *'One instance," he says, ''will show how hard- 
hearted many of the English or Anglo-Normans still 
were. After taking the town of Waterford, they had 
in theix hands seventy prisoners, the principal men 
of the town. There was a discussion among the 
leaders what should be done with these men. One 
of them named Raymond wished to be merciful and 
allow them to be ransomed ; but another having made 
a fierce speech demanding their death, his comrades 
approved of it, and the wretched prisoners had their 
bones broken and were then thrown into the sea and 
drowned." What a terrible tale of English barbarity! 
Who ever heard of another nation that claimed to be 
civilized murdering its prisoners ? Even Pagan Rome 
in her most corrupt days did not do that. It is true 
she made her prisoners into gladiators and compelled 
them to butcher one another ; but, at any rate, she put 
arms into their hands and gave them a chance to de- 
fend themselves. It was reserved for enlightened 
England to murder her prisoners and oh! how bar- 
barously! It was not sufficient to cast them into the 
sea; she must first glut her desire for revenge by break- 
ing their bones, Yet such were the people whom 



THE CELT ABOVE THM SAXOt^ 31 

our modern fine English ladies and gentlemen are 
proud to consider their ancestors. 

Yet, terrible as was the slaughter at the capture of 
Waterford, still more horrible was the butchery per- 
petrated by the Normans at the capture of Dublin. 
The fate of Waterford had struck terror into the 
people of Dublin; so they sent an ambassador to sue 
for terms of peace and to arrange for the surrender 
of the city. But, oh! unheard-of atrocity, while these 
negotiations were in progress, the Normans burst 
into the city and commenced a most dreadful massacre 
of men, women, and children. Truly this is a grand 
commentary on EngHsh good faith and chivalry! 
Whilst holding in one hand the olive-branch, the other 
hand suddenly and without warning draws the sword . 
But the gallant Englishman is not satisfied with strik- 
ing down an armed man; his chivalry prompts him to 
slay even defenceless women and children. Yet at the 
present day how often we hear of Anglo-Saxon cour- 
age, bravery and gallantry! But even the savage 
Indians of the forest did not slay helpless women and 
children. 

The next great victory won by the EngKsh over the 
Irish and their allies was in the year 13 18; when the 
English defeated the Irish with their Scotch allies 
under Edward Bruce, near the city of Dundalk; 
and here, too, the EngHsh exhibited their usual gal- 
lantry. We should imagine that the English, if they 
had any generous spirit at all, would show their ad- 
miration for their gallant foe that had heretofore 



ja THB CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

routed them completely in many a well-fought field, 
as we have related in the previous chapter; for even 
the Indian admires a brave adversary. Not so the 
EngUshman. No sooner had Edward Bruce been 
defeated and slain in battle than they cut off his noble 
head and sent it over to London to be set up on one 
of the spikes of London tower as a ghastly trophy. 
This was evidently not an isolated instance of English 
barbarity; for we find that a similar fate befell the 
head of the Earl of Desmond, who rebelled against 
England during the reign of Queen EHzabeth, though 
he was not in the strict sense of the word an Irishman 
at all, but one of the Anglo-Norman colony that had 
settled in Ireland and become more Irish than the 
Irish themselves. We certainly admire their good 
taste, but what shall we say of the native English who 
down to the time of the "good Queen Bess," called 
the golden age of English history, had no better taste 
than to set, up the heads of their fallen foes to decay 
on the spikes of the tower of London? Certainly if 
there were many trophies, like that they must have con- 
tributed greatly to purify the atmosphere and who 
knov^^ but they may have been the cause of the Black 
Plague and other epidemics with which outraged 
nature visited revengeful England and swept away 
thousands of her subjects as the punishment of her 
blood-thirstiness? At any rate what an inspiring 
sight it must have been to the rising generation of 
young English boys and girls to imbue them with 
lofty ideas of refinement, civilisation, and Christianity I 



fHE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 33 

It was only towards the close of Queen Elizabeth's 
reign that Ireland was completely conquered by Eng- 
land for the first time. But, oh ! by what unspeakable 
means that conquest was brought about! We have 
seen in the previous chapter how the gallant O'Neil 
for ten years defied the whole power of England, and 
as long as the Irish chieftains remained united Eng- 
land was powerless against them. Seeing that all 
her best generals had been routed by the Irish, one 
after the other, and that it was impossible to conquer 
the country by the sword, England now had resort to 
the well-known English maxim: "Divide and con- 
quer." As a last resort Queen EHzabeth sent over to 
Ireland Mountjoy and Carew with instructions to 
use every endeavor to break up the Irish confederation 
by snares, deceit, and treachery of all kinds, by the 
most shameful bribery, and even by forged letters 
dexterously employed to sow the seeds of distrust and 
suspicion among the Irish leaders. In a word they 
were to spare no efforts to create civil dissensions 
among them. Where the skill of the soldier failed, 
the wile of the serpent succeeded. As a result one 
Irish chieftain after another fell away from the con- 
federation and as a sad consequence O'Neil was soon 
afterwards defeated in a pitched battle by the Enghsh 
near the city of Kinsale. Then followed the most 
disgraceful scene in England's disgraceful history. 
We have seen in the previous chapter how Queen 
Elizabeth directed the Irish chieftains to be invited 
to a feast and slain in the banquet hall, A little while 



34 THE CELT ABOVE TBE SAXON 

afterwards, she had another troublesome Irish chief- 
tain to deal with, John O'Neil of Ulster; who defeated 
her Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex and carried 
his victorious arms even to the walls of Dublin. How 
to get rid of him was the question; but the fertile 
mind of Queen Bess devised a plan. She wrote to 
Sussex directing him to hire an assassin to murder the 
Irish chief; but unfortunately they failed to destroy 
their correspondence and it is still preserved in the 
archives of England. 

But these unprincipled proceedings were nothing 
compared to the butchery and spoHation of the Eng- 
lish after the Battle of Kinsale. A few years previ- 
ously that gallant courtier, that noble specimen of 
the polished English gentleman, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
ordered eight hundred prisoners of war to be cruelly 
butchered and then flung over the rocks into the sea. 
Yet after all, these were men, but now the English 
proceeded to the systematic extermination of the 
whole Irish people, men, women and children. This 
was not warfare but double-dyed murder. Yet we 
are not asked to accept this on the testimony of Irish 
historians; for Englishmen themselves are forced to 
admit it with shame. Froude certainly was no special 
friend of Ireland; for some Irishmen who are now 
living may remember how some years ago he came out 
to America to vilify their native land and the great 
Dominican, Father Burke, followed him to refute his 
vilifications. Yet this is what he says in his "History 
of England, X, page $08," concerning the English 



TUB CELT ABOVE TBE SAXON 3$ 

barbarities perpetrated in Ireland during the reign of 
Elizabeth: "The English nation was shuddering 
over the atrocities of the Duke of Alva in Holland. 
Yet Alva's bloody sword never touched the young, 
the defenceless, or those whose sex even dogs can 
recognize and respect. Sir Peter Carew, the English 
commander, has been seen murdering women, and 
children and babies that had scarcely left the breast. 
It was no fault of the English if any Irish child of that 
generation was allowed to live to manhood. Thus 
did the English out-Herod Herod. He murdered the 
innocents, but only those of one locality and only 
such as were not over two years of age; but here we 
find a nation calHng itself enlightened, civilized, and 
Christian murdering a race wholesale." 

The campaign of Cromwell in Ireland was but a 
repetition of the atrocities committed under Queen 
Elizabeth, only intensified, if that were possible. 
With the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, 
he marched through the island butchering helpless 
women and children, with a ferocity which would 
make the blood run cold. Every schoolboy knows of 
his dreadful massacres at Drogleda and Waterford, 
the details of which would sicken the heart. The 
historian, Prendergast, though himself of English 
descent, is forced to confess that: "Such scenes were 
not witnessed since the Vandals conquered Spain." 

Finally, having satisfied his thirst for blood, he 
seized a hundred thousand Irish, many of them young 
boys and girls of tender years and transported tkem 



$6 fHE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON . 

as slaves to the West Indies; but the rest of the in- 
habitants he drove into the most barren and desolate 
corner of the Island telling them in his brutal way 
"to go to Hell or Connaught. " * But the Irish warriors 
amounting to forty thousand men he banished into 
Spain. 

Nevertheless, even the butcheries of Cromwell could 
not break the heroic spirit of our ancestors. Our 
EngHsh cousins sometimes call the Irish a wild law- 
less race; yet it was in defence of their sovereign, 
Charles I., that they took up arms against Cromwell. 
In like manner a half century afterwards, as loyal 
subjects, they again took up arms in defence of their 
king, James II., when his own subjects deposed him, 
not because of any crime, but on account of his re- 
ligious convictions. 

It is true that the Orangemen can boast that they 
defeated the Irish at the battle of the Boyne; but where 
is the glory in veteran troops, the best equipped in 
Europe, defeating a handful of poorly-armed and 
badly organized peasantry, aided by a few companies 
of French regulars? But if the Irish were defeated 
at the Boyne, they covered themselves with glory at 
the siege of Limerick, for they drove King WilUam 
with his army of veterans pell mell from the city; 
and the women of Limerick deserve as much credit 
as the men, for, Uke true heroines, they fought side by 
side with their husbands and sons. 

Where is the glory of England in tyrannizing over, 
despoiUng, and butchering such a gallant and heroic 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 37 

race? Is it not rather the darkest stain in her char- 
acter? If England only knew enough to conciliate 
that noble race they would be her strongest bulwark 
and defence. Instead of that, her oppression of the 
Irish at home has driven them forth to strengthen the 
hands of England's enemies in foreign lands. When 
brute force finally triumphed in King William's war, 
twenty thousand more Irish warriors went over as 
exiles to France and were incorporated into the French 
army. It is well known how some years later there 
set in a regular exodus of Irish emigrants to America. 
But in the succeeding chapter we shall see how they 
and their descendants again often met their old Eng- 
lish foes in foreign lands and helped to inflict upon 
them many a humiliating defeat, in return for having 
by their tyranny driven them from their native knd. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Irish Victories over the English in Foreign 
Lands. "We meet again at Philippi." 

'HEN Brutus and his fellow-conspirators bru- 
tally assassinated Julius Caesar, almost hack- 
ing him to pieces by their swords and daggers, 
they imagined that his power and influence were gone 
forever. But no; his great spirit still lived on in the 
heart of his successor, Caesar Augustus; and whilst 
Brutus in his camp on the distant shores of Asia was 
preparing for the final struggle against this new oppo- 
nent that had just sprung against him, suddenly the 
ghost of JuHus Caesar, pale and ghastly, is said to 
have appeared to him in his tent and said: "We 
meet again at Philippi." Before very long, the mean- 
ing of this apparition became plain; for a great battle 
was fought at Philippi, where Caesar Augustus was 
victorious and Brutus was defeated and slain. Caesar 
was dead but his spirit still conquered. 

So likewise when Ireland, after a gallant struggle, 
lay prostrate at the feet of England, the proud victor 
was not satisfied to kick her fallen victim, though it is 
only a coward that would strike a man when he is 
down; but England did more; she actually plunged 
a poisoned dagger into Erin's heart. She imagined 
that Ireland was dead-^ead forever. But, lol the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 39 

great unconquered spirit of Erin still lived on in the 
hearts of her exiled sons, who departed in thousands 
from their native land; and these exiled children of 
Erin were frequently to meet their old English foes 
on many a well-fought field in foreign lands, inflicting 
upon them many a humiliating defeat. Indeed, most 
of England's reverses abroad during the last three 
centuries have been due to these exiled warriors of 
Erin; who at a decisive moment turned the tide of 
battle against her; so that England paid dearly for 
the exile of the Gael. 

The Irish have always proved themselves a very 
brave race at home and abroad. Many a time they 
put their Anglo-Saxon foes to flight from their native 
soil as we have seen in chapter the fourth. Even 
King William of Orange himself, who had defeated 
them at the River Boyne, declared that "they were 
born soldiers;" and he endeavored to enlist them 
into his own army. But the Irish soldiers loved 
liberty too well to hve in subjection. So most of 
them passed over to the friendly soil of Spain and 
France; where their valor soon became so conspicuous 
that King Henry IV. of France said ; *' There was no 
nation which produced better troops than the Irish, 
when drilled." It was not long before they were to 
prove themselves worthy of these grand encomiums. 

At the opening of the eighteenth century a 
great European war broke out entangling nearly 
all the great powers of Europe. On one side were 
France and Spain, Arrayed against them were Eng- 



4© THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

land, Germany, and Austria whose combined armies 
were commanded by the Duke of Marlborough and 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the greatest command- 
ers of the age. Early in the struggle Italy became a 
bone of contention between them. A French army 
under the Duke of Villeroy, accompanied by two 
Irish regiments under O'Mahony and Burke, held 
the Italian town of Cremona. But one morning be- 
fore sunrise the place was surprised by the English 
auxiliaries under Prince Eugene and the whole French 
force with their commander was captured. The only 
part of the city that did not fall into the hands of the 
enemy was that held by the Irish; and now they were 
summoned to surrender. They answered with a 
volley of bullets. The Austrian general, having Irish 
troops in his own service, had a very high regard for 
Irish valor and did not wish to sacrifice the lives of 
brave men, so he sent messengers to expostulate with 
them, telling them that the town was virtually in his 
hands and that further resistance would be only use- 
less shedding of blood. At the same time he assured 
them that if they immediately surrendered and joined 
his army they should be promptly promoted. But 
their answer was: "While one of us exists the Ger- 
man eagles will never float upon these walls." 

Thereupon the Irish troops were attacked by an over- 
whelming force. Taken completely by surprise they 
were compelled to fight in their shirt sleeves ; yet, be- 
fore sunrise they had recovered nearly half of the qity; 
P.q4 before evening they had completely expelled the 



f^JS CELT ABOVE TBE SAXOM ^t 

enemy from the town and rescuea the French general 
and all his soldiers from the hands of their foes. 
Next day the sad news arrived in London that the 
allies of England had met with defeat and disaster 
from the Irish, whom English folly and tyranny had 
driven into exile. As the poet has well expressed it 
there was — 

"News, news in Vienna! King Leopold's sad. 
News, news in St. James'! King William's mad. 
News, news in Versailles! Let the Irish brigade 
Be loyally honored and royally paid." 

But still more important than this was the great 
battle of Fontenoy, a few years after, when the Irish 
exiles met this time not the allies of England, but the 
English themselves, their old hated foes. Every 
schoolboy knows the thrilling story of this battle — 
how the French army beaten by the English was about 
to flee from the field, when as a last resort the Irish 
Brigade was ordered to charge upon the victorious 
Anglo-Saxons. The Irish advanced with fixed bay- 
onets; then with a tremendous shout: "Remember 
the broken treaty of Limerick and English perfidy," 
they dashed upon the flank of their foes. The English 
were stunned by the dreadful shout, and dazed by the 
sudden attack of their ancient foes. It seemed as 
if Caesar's ghost had suddenly confronted them. 
They were completely shattered by the Irish charge; 
they reeled, then broke before the Irish bayonets, and 
tumbled down th? 14U? disorgj 



42 THE CELT ABOVE TBE SAXON 

falling by hundreds. The victory was bloody and 
complete. After the battle the French King Louis 
rode down to the Irish auxiliaries and personally 
thanked them. On the other hand the tidings of defeat 
caused consternation in England; and when King 
George II. heard how the flower of his troops had 
been defeated by the exiled warriors of Erin, he 
exclaimed: "Cursed be the laws that deprive me of 
such subjects!" 

But the Irish were to inflict a still greater humilia- 
tion upon England by causing her to lose America, 
the fairest of all her provinces, the land that is to-day 
the richest country in the world. There is no doubt 
whatsoever that but for the Irish the United States 
would be an English colony to-day. But for the 
help given them by the Irish the early American pa- 
triots would never have been unable to hold out until 
the arrival of French aid. They would have been 
speedily crushed by the mailed hand of England. 

The Hon. Geo. Washington Park Curtis, the step- 
son of General Washington, tells us that: "Up to the 
coming of the French, Ireland had furnished to the 
Revolutionary army one hundred soldiers to one from 
any other nation whatever." 

It is a fact not generally known that one-half the 
soldiers of the American Revolutionary army were of 
Irish birth. During the seven years' war that secured 
American independence the forces raised by the United 
States consisted of two hundred and eighty-eight 
|housaa4 x^%%. Of \\m P-rniy there werf tWQ Irish- 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 43 

men to every native. At the close of the war, a Mr. 
Galloway, who had been speaker of the Pennsylvania 
Assembly was examined before a committee of the 
House of Commons and asked what the Continental 
Army was composed of. Here is his answer: ''The 
names and places of their nativity having been taken 
down, I can answer the question with precision. 
There were scarcely one-fourth natives of America, 
about one half were Irish, and the other fourth prin- 
cipally Scotch and English." 

Not only did Ireland furnish soldiers to the Amer- 
ican cause, but great generals as well. Some of the 
most successful generals of the Revolutionary war 
were of Irish birth or extraction. Among others 
may be mentioned General Stephen Moylan, the first 
quarter-master of the Revolutionary army. General 
Sullivan, General Montgomery, who invaded Canada 
and laid down his life for the cause, and General 
Stark, the son of an Irish emigrant. He defeated 
the English in the Battle of Bennington taking six 
hundred prisoners. Before the battle he gave utter- 
ance to a famous remark which is certain to live in 
history. Pointing to the English he said to his 
soldiers, most of whom were Irish or of Irish descent, 
like himself: "Boys, there are the redcoats; before 
evening they will be ours or Molly Stark will be a 
widow." 

It is also worthy of note that the father of General 
Wayne came from Ireland and settled in Pennsyl- 
vania. Most of his soldiers, too, were Irish. They 



44 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

gained a great many victories over the English and 
we can now easily understand why the British called 
their leader: **Mad Anthony Wayne." Whenever 
anyone defeats the English, they always say he is 
"mad;" just as they speak at the present day of the 
Mad Mullah of Africa; because he has routed them 
so often in battle. 

Not only did Ireland furnish soldiers and generals 
to the American Revolutionary army, but likewise 
marines to the first American navy. The first com- 
modore of the American navy was an Irishman called 
Barry; and once when a haughty English admiral 
met him on the high seas and peremptorily demanded : 
** Who goes there?" this brave Irishman sent a cannon 
ball whistling over the bow of the English ship and 
replied: "I am saucy Jack Barry, commodore of 
the American navy? Who are you?" We can 
readily comprehend how valuable were the services 
of this Irishman to the American cause when, to detach 
him from it, the EngHsh commander, Lord Howe, 
ofi'ered him 15,000 guineas and the command of the 
best frigate in the English navy. But the gallant and 
incorruptible patriot repHed: "I have devoted my- 
self to the cause of America, and the command of the 
whole British fleet with all the money in the British 
Empire could not seduce me from it." 

But probably still more necessary than even soldiers 
and sailors was to supply the American Government 
with the "sinews of war," to carry on the great struggle 
.against powerful England. Yet in the darkest hour 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 45 

of the great crisis, when famine was staring in the 
face of Washington's little army at Valley Forge and 
discontent, desertion, and discouragement appeared 
on all sides, who was it that again came to the rescue 
of the American cause with generous financial assist- 
ance but the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick ? Twenty- 
seven members of this Irish society contributed 103,500 
pounds, or over half a million dollars and then more 
than an equivalent for several millions at the present 
time. This patriotic act was fully appreciated by 
Washington; who wrote the society a very compli- 
mentary letter and declared it to be "distinguished 
for its firm adherence to our glorious cause." Yet, at 
the same time, another Irishman, Thomas Fitzsim- 
mons, subscribed a loan of twenty-five thousand dollars 
to the same cause. 

Not only did the Irish contribute soldiers and sailors 
and material resources to the American cause but also 
in the council-rooms they had wise statesmen and 
worthy representatives. Four of these, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, his cousin, Daniel Carroll, 
Thomas Fitzsimmons, and Thomas Lee were mem- 
bers of the Continental Congress and signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

Moreover, it is well known that it was the mission 
to Canada of Father John Carroll, afterwards Arch- 
bishop Carroll, that secured the neutrality of the 
Canadians and thus greatly helped the American 
cause. 

Finally, after spending as Edward Burke says, 



46 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

seventy millions of pounds and causing the loss of one 
hundred thousand hves, England was forced to give 
up the struggle. She had lost her American colonies 
through the instrumentality of the Irish. To them 
she is indebted for the loss of the finest and richest 
country in the world. She still holds Ireland beneath 
her iron heel, although of late she seems more inclined 
to give her tardy justice; but because of her past 
tyranny in that country she has lost a country twenty 
times greater than Ireland in population, a hundred 
times greater in size and a thousand times greater in 
natural resources — in fact a country almost as large 
as all Europe together. Let Englishmen boast of 
their superiority over the Irish. Let them continue 
to despise the Irish as a conquered race. The Irish 
can truly say that in foreign lands they met again their 
EngUsh foes at Philippi and history tells us who were 
the victors. 

Besides causing England the loss of the United 
States, these same turbulent Irish came very near de- 
priving dear Mother England of Canada also. At the 
close of the late American Civil War, a large force of 
Irishmen who had been trained in the American army 
organized themselves into a society called the Fenians 
and resolved to sever Canada from England. 

The movement was making great headway and 
promised to be entirely successful until the American 
Government issued a proclamation forbidding any 
military movement against any government with 
which the American people were at peace. The 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 47 

Washington authorities even went so far as to post 
United States soldiers along the Canadian frontier 
and to station gunboats on the lakes and on the St. 
Lawrence River to prevent the Fenians from crossing 
over to Canada. Perhaps they might have been com- 
pelled to do so by international law; but, at any rate, 
the Anglo-maniacs of America have always been too 
obsequious to England. Nevertheless, one force of 
Irishmen under Colonel John O'Neil succeeded in 
getting across and on the heights of Ridge way inflicted 
a severe defeat on a large force of English, under 
Colonel Booker. The British and their commander 
fled for their lives, leaving their proud standard in the 
hands of the Irish. This victory created the greatest 
consternation throughout Canada and England. The 
English were in great fear that they were now about 
to lose Canada, as they had lost the United States. 
But, on the following day, O'Neil learned with regret 
that his supports and supplies had been cut off by 
United States gun-boats and nothing remained but 
to surrender to the American naval commander. 

In the late Boer War, also, the Irish once more 
distinguished themselves under the command of their 
gallant leader, Colonel Blake, against their ancient 
foes. Many a humiliating defeat the Irish Brigade 
helped to inflict on Tommy Atkins at Ladysmith, 
the Tugela River, and Spion Kop. As the English 
greatly dreaded to meet them in the open field, even 
at this period of enlightenment, the dawn of the twen- 
tieth century, they had recourse to their old dastardly 



48 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

system of warfare, actually placing a price of five 
thousand pounds or twenty-five thousand dollars on 
the head of Colonel Blake; and, although he is a 
native American citizen, our pro-English toady, 
Secretary of State Hay, has never even protested 
against this barbarous and uncivilized system of 
warfare. 

But in spite of all these defeats and humiliations 
at the hands of the Irish, the Englishman will tell us- 
that the Irishman is too hot-headed and impetuous 
to make a good soldier. On the contrary how fre- 
quently we hear of the boasted Anglo-Saxon pluck, 
coolness and bull-dog tenacity upon the battle-field! 
In our next chapter, therefore, we shall compare the 
Irish and English soldier, delineating the military 
traits and characteristics of each. In a word we shall 
endeavor to solve the question: ''WTiich country 
produces the better soldiers, Ireland or England ? " 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Irish and English Soldier Compared. 

AS the English have conquered Ireland, it would 
seem as if the Anglo-Saxon were superior to 
the Celt in military affairs; since it is usually 
the superior race that conquers. But here we have 
an exception to the rule; for we have seen in the 
previous chapter how the Irish exiles carried the 
contest into foreign lands, met their old foes again 
on many a well-fought field, and were finally the 
victors. As our venerable Senator Hoar has well 
said: ''The Irish have conquered their conquerors. " 
Would it not seem then, from their ultimate triumph, 
that the Irish are the braver race? 

Nobody has ever questioned the extraordinary 
bravery of the Irish race. Their valor on the battle- 
field has passed into a proverb. Whenever there is 
a grand charge to be made upon the enemy or a vigor- 
ous assault upon his works, then the ardent and im- 
petuous Irish soldiers surpass aU others. They 
sweep every obstacle before them by one grand rush 
and are as irresistible as the hurricane. Those who 
have witnessed the wild charge of the Irish brigade 
upon the battle-field say it is an inspiring sight, which 
they can never forget. 

In other countries continual tyranny has finally 



50 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

broken the spirit of the bravest race. For instance, 
who would recognize in the dejected and disheartened 
Indian of Modern Mexico the descendants of the 
mighty Aztecs, who so long defied the invincible 
Cortes and his gallant Spanish cavaliers? Yet they 
are essentially the same race; but oppression has done 
its deadly work. But Ireland has had to endure far 
more from seven centuries of EngHsh tyranny; yet, 
with very few exceptions, the Irish are to-day as brave 
and high-spirited as ever. 

It is true, the EngHsh claim to be a still more valor- 
ous race. But the question is: ''Who is the braver, 
the man who defends himself courageously from the 
unprovoked attack of an adversary greatly his superior 
in size or the bully who goes around continually 
looking for trouble with those that are smaller than 
himself but is afraid to meet an opponent of his own 
weight ? Thus we have in the form of an allegory the 
military record of the Irish and the English race. 

Ireland has had to fight England, an antagonist 
nearly twice her size. The Irish did not seek for the 
contest, it was forced upon them in defence of their 
homes and freedom. On the contrary the EngHsh 
have always been very brave in the presence of smaller 
and weaker powers or in dealing with the undeveloped 
races of Asia and Africa, whose weapons are still 
little better than bows and arrows; but they have al- 
ways been very civil towards the United States and the 
great powers of Europe. Whether this is bravery or 
cowardice let the reader judge for himself. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 51 

Only twice in her history during fifteen centuries 
has England gone to war with a country as large as 
or larger than herself; and then under circumstances 
which certainly reflect no credit on her. Once she 
went to war with France, but at a time when that 
poor country had the misfortune to have an insane 
king and was torn by civil dissensions. But, after 
fighting for a hundred years to get control of France, 
the English were driven bag and baggage out of the 
country and have never been able to get a permanent 
foot-hold there since. Truly these English are won- 
derful for taking advantage of their neighbor's mis- 
fortunes; but they sometimes pay dearly for it after- 
wards. On another occasion, England went to war 
with Russia; but she was very careful beforehand to 
have secured France and Turkey to fight by her side. 

However, a few years ago, England began to feel 
her old brave spirit before the weak and powerless 
once more swelling up within her heart; so she re- 
solved to get a slice of Venezuela. The poor helpless 
Venezuelans begged England to refer the case to 
arbitration. But Joe Chamberlain said : "No! The 
only arbitration will be by Maxim Guns." But just 
then that grand old man of democracy. President 
Cleveland, stepped in and held the Monroe Doctrine 
as a magic helmet over Venezuela. Then all at once 
what a great change came over the countenance of 
John Bull! He began to make all sorts of excuses 
and apologies saying: 'T beg your pardon sir! I 
did not mean to offend you! We are cousins you 



S^ THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON]. 

knowl Blood is thicker than water! Let us be 
friends and live in peace!" Everybody knows how 
ingloriously England backed down on that occasion 
before the United States. 

How different was England's attitude a few years 
afterwards to the two little repubhcs of South Africa ! 
No sooner were diamonds discovered in the Transvaal 
than England, never at a loss for a pretext to despoil 
the weak, manufactured some flimsy excuse for making 
war on that country. President Kruger of the 
Transvaal requested England to refer the case to 
arbitration. But England said: ''No! There is 
nothing to arbitrate." "Then," said Kruger, "If 
you are bound to have my country, you will purchase 
it at a price that will stagger humanity." He kept 
his word. For more than two years, these two little 
republics of South Africa, the Transvaal and the 
Orange River Free State, whose combined population 
did not reach one million, kept at bay the whole 
power of England. England's thirty millions could 
not conquer this little handful of brave farmers; so 
she had to call upon Canada and Australia for assist- 
ance. Yes, and even Queen Victoria herself with a 
shamrock in her hand had to go over to Ireland beg- 
ging for soldiers. There were three hundred thousand 
British soldiers against thirty thousand Boers; yet 
though only one to ten the Boers made England the 
laughing stock of Europe. 

Until the Boer Wax took some of the conceit out 
of the heads of oiu: Anglo-Saxon friends we were 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOM sj 

accustomed to hear so much of English pluck, cool- 
ness, and bull-dog tenacity upon the battle-field that 
we might imagine that when the Almighty created 
the human race He gave to the Anglo-Saxon a monop- 
oly of every martial perfection. But when the whole 
world looking on saw how one Boer put to flight from 
two to ten English soldiers, people opened their eyes 
in amazement and inquired: "Where is that boasted 
English pluck about which we heard so much?" 

For a long time, too, the English had been boasting 
of their "Anglo-Saxon coolness" in battle, and crit- 
icising the Irish for their hot-headedness, which 
they alleged, would prevent them from ever becoming 
successful soldiers. The English had forgotten what 
we have related in a previous chapter about the cool- 
ness of the Irish, when under Hugh O 'Byrne they en- 
trapped the English in a ravine and waited calmly 
without firing until the enemy was entirely enmeshed 
in the snare. Where was the famous Anglo-Saxon 
coolness then? They were thrown into a panic, 
and fled in all directions. Anglo-Saxon coolness is 
a myth, like the myth about Anglo-Saxon pluck 
and a great many other English myths. 

The English are as easily panic-stricken in battle as 
any other race under the sun and probably more so. 
We have seen how on one occasion the whole English 
army was thrown into a panic when they saw their 
cavalry rush headlong into some pits constructed for 
them by the strategy of Hugh O'Neil. So in the late 
Boer War how often a stampede among the American 



54 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

mules was sufficient to deprive the cool-headed Eng- 
lishman of his boasted coolness and to throw the whole 
British army in an uncontrollable panic 1 In fact 
the British generals put the blame for nearly all their 
defeats on the American mules and the poor dumb 
animals were not able to contradict them. 

But, while we find the English not guilty of any ex- 
traordinary bravery or coolness on the battle-field, we 
must frankly confess, to give them their due, that they 
certainly do possess a great deal of what they call 
"Anglo-Saxon bull-dog tenacity." The bull-dog is 
not by any means a noble anim.al; nor is he the strong- 
est of the canine species; for the Great Dane and the 
Newfoundland dog are much stronger; yet it is said 
that no other dog is a match for the bull-dog, because 
when once he gets a hold it is impossible to break his 
grasp. So the English, though not at all the strongest 
or the bravest race, have been by their dogged tenacity, 
aided by their cunning and trickery, about which we 
shall speak more later, a match for even more powerful 
races than themselves. No matter how often they 
have been defeated the English will again return to 
the attack; and there is no doubt that they can endure 
a great deal of punishment. The secret of it is that 
the English Government cares very little for the life 
of her common soldiers; for she is ready to sacrifice 
any number of them in order to win the victory. She 
does not care as long as the English nobility do not 
fall in battle. England considers the life of one 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 55 

English lord more valuable than the lives of a 
thousand common soldiers. 

Yet England's tenacity of purpose is generally- 
manifested only to a weaker power, but before a strong 
adversary she is not at all so determined. Twice at 
least in her career she has ingloriously relinquished 
the contest — once when she abandoned the conquest 
of France and again when she was compelled to grant 
independence to her American colonies. 

But there are other races just as tenacious of pur- 
pose as the English people and perhaps more so. 
After all the horrors that our Irish forefathers endured 
under Queen Elizabeth and Cromwell, they did not 
give up the great battle for their freedom and indepen- 
dence. Though decimated by the sword, wasted by 
famine, and reduced to a mere handful, they were 
not afraid to leap to arms again in 1798 and 1848; 
and to defy the whole power of the British Empire. 
Yet, as the poet says, where is the Irishman at home or 
abroad to-day 

"Who fears to speak of ninety-eight 
Who blushes at the name?" 

The Irish are just as enthusiastic as ever to-day to 
renew the contest should a favorable opportunity offer 
and they will never give up the struggle as long as there 
is a single Irishman left, until England has been 
forced to do justice to their native land. Another 
Irish poet, the late T. D. Sullivan, sums up well the 
sentiments of every loyal Irish heart; 



S6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

"But on the cause must go, 

Amidst joy, or weal, or woe; 

Till we make our isle a nation free and grand." 

Having thus made a comparison of the Irish and 
English races on the three qualities required to con- 
stitute a good soldier, we find, according to the most 
convincing evidence, that the Irish, while not lacking 
in coolness, surpass the English in bravery and de- 
termination. Consequently, as they excel in two out 
of three of the essential requisites, we must naturally 
conclude that the Irish make the better soldiers. 

Even the English themselves tacitly acknowledge 
this, because in time of trouble they are so anxious to 
get their Irish subjects to go and fight for them. That 
is about the only time Ireland can get any concession 
from England; just as at the present time, when she 
expects trouble in the East with Russia, she tries to 
conciliate Ireland by passing "The Land Purchase 
Act." But, if the Irish are wise, they will let England 
henceforth fight her own battles. I suppose that the 
Irishmen who enter the English army join it because 
they can find nothing to do at home, as industry is at 
a stand-still, because of English oppression. No 
doubt, too, there are some scapegraces in Ireland, as 
in every other country; who drift into the army as 
their national goal; but they make excellent soldiers 
for England. Is it not sad to think that the Irish have 
thus unintentionally helped England to crush many 
another brave race such as the Boers, just as she has 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 57 

oppressed Ireland herself? Only for the help that 
the Irish have given thus to England, she would be 
down on her knees long ago. She has been living for 
a hundred years on the reputation of the Duke of 
Wellington; and Colonel Blake who fought against 
her, as the leader of the Irish brigade, in the Boer 
War, declares that the native English soldiers to-day 
are a race of degenerates who have greatly deteriorated 
from the standard of the English soldier of days gone 
by. 

On the other hand, all the great generals that have 
won fame and renown for England during the past 
century were Irishmen, from Lord Wellington who 
conquered the great Napoleon, down to Lord Wolsey 
and even still later to Lord Roberts and Lord Kit- 
chener, who recently conquered the Boers. No doubt 
the English will say that all these were of EngHsh 
descent; but it will be very hard for them to answer 
the question: ^'Why does not the English race pro- 
duce such heroes at home? Why must the Anglo- 
Saxon, be transplanted over to Ireland in order to 
reach his highest development? We should imagine 
that if there is any virtue in a race at all it would mani- 
fest itself in its native soil. It is clear therefore that 
England has to go to Ireland for her military geniuses ; 
for Erin with her lovely vales and her pure air is the 
natural home of heroes. 

Since then the English have no reason to lord it 
over the Irish from an exhaustive comparison of their 
respective achievements in war; they will have to fall 



S8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

back now on their second argument, their achieve- 
ments in peace. So in the succeeding chapters we 
shall have to compare the alleged prosperity of Eng- 
land and her success in the arts and sciences with the 
alleged poverty and illiteracy of Ireland. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Poverty of the Irish. 

THE second great argument advanced by the 
Anglo-Saxons to prove their superiority over 
the Celtic race is the prosperity of the English 
and the poverty of the Irish. It is an indisputable 
fact that England is a far more prosperous country 
than Ireland. Everyone admits that. The most 
unprejudiced travelers tell us of the enterprise, the 
industry, and the prosperity witnessed in the most 
comfortable homes in England ; whilst in Ireland they 
saw nothing but poverty, squalor, stagnation, and 
decay. What wonder that the Anglo-Saxon speaks 
of his country as "Merry England," whilst Ireland is 
described as 

"The most distressful country that ever you have 

seen!" 
Before investigating the cause of these diverse con- 
ditions in the two countries, it may be well to remem- 
ber that poverty and riches are a very poor criterion 
by which to judge a nation or an individual. All 
philosophers and Holy Scripture itself tell us not to 
judge a man by the coat he wears. Did not the great 
Diogenes live in a tub as a dwelling? Yet Alexander 
the Great declared that if he were not Alexander he 
would like to be Diogenes, But a still more striking 



62 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

example was our Divine Saviour Himself, Who, 
though the Lord of all creation and Master of the 
thousands of bright spheres that revolve in the vast 
realms of space, could truly say: ''The foxes have 
their dens and the birds of the air their nests ; but the 
Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." 

Yet, some people are continually reproaching the 
Irish with their poverty, as if it were a great disgrace 
to be poor. But honest poverty is no disgrace; on 
the contrary it makes them more like our Blessed 
Saviour Himself. The only poverty that is disgraceful 
is that which people have brought upon themselves by 
their own prodigality, intoxication, and debauchery. 
That is criminal, but poverty that is unavoidable 
through sickness or misfortune, in spite of industry, 
temperance, and economy is truly honorable. Thanks 
be to God, with very few exceptions, the Irish people 
have no reason to be ashamed of their poverty. In- 
deed, I sincerely beheve that it is mainly due to their 
poverty that the Irish people have always remained 
so faithful to their holy religion, whilst other nations 
more prosperous have made shipwreck of the faith. 
It is their poverty that has always preserved in their 
hearts that spirit of humility which is the foundation 
of all virtue; and on whom does God shower down 
His heavenly gifts but on the meek and lowly of heart ? 
Our Blessed Saviour Himself said: "Blessed are 
the poor in spirit; for their's is the kingdom of 
heaven." So the Irish though poor in earthly pos- 
pessionsj are rich in the gifts of heaven, 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 63 

It will not be at all to the advantage of the Irish 
people if they lose this spirit of poverty. If ever they 
become rich and wealthy, then farewell to their faith! 
St. Paul tells us that "They who become rich fall into 
temptations and into the snare of the devil, and into 
many unprofitable and hurtful desires which drown 
men into perdition and destruction." Does not ex- 
perience prove this? Look at those Irish people and 
their descendants who have become wealthy in the 
United States! What has become of their faith? 
With some honorable exceptions, either they or their 
children are lost to the Church; for as soon as they 
became rich they considered that their poor Catholic 
neighbors were no longer fit to associate with them, 
so they began to form non-Catholic acquaintances, 
and then by entering into marriages with Protestants, 
they lost the faith. 

Therefore I confidently trust that our Irish 
people will never become over-burdened with wealth. 
I should like to see them comfortably situated, with 
a nice neat home and a modest competence, suffi- 
cient to maintain themselves and their families in 
frugal comfort, but no more. That is all that our 
Saviour directs us to pray for: ''Give us this day 
our daily bread." 

Yet, some of our leading Irish statesmen in this 
country are constantly bemoaning that the Irish race 
are falling behind in the great industrial struggle in 
the United States. Let the struggle rage! The Irish 
people are striving for something better. Instead of 



^4 THE CELT ABOVE THU SAXON 

building for themselves houses on this earth made by- 
human hands, they are building mansions in heaven. 
Instead of accumulating for themselves the dust of 
this world, which men call gold and silver, they are 
laying up for themselves treasures in heaven, "where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor thieves break 
through and steal." Look at all the churches, schools, 
and convents which the Irish have erected out of their 
poverty all over the world! What wonder that the 
renegade Catholic, Michael McCarthy, in his venom- 
ous book entitled: "The Priests and People of 
Ireland," declares that it is the Church which has 
impoverished the Irish people. But even if the base 
charge were true — happy 1 yea, thrice happy the 
race that has become poor for the glory of the Saviour, 
Who became so poor for us ! In what better way could 
they spend their means than for the glory of God, the 
spread of his holy religion, and salvation of souls ? 

But let us now inquire what is the real cause of the 
poverty and distress of the great majority of the Irish 
people. It would be unfair to say that it is due to 
any one cause; but, Hke most other things, it can be 
traced to a variety of sources. We must candidly 
but regretfully admit that a great deal of it is due to 
the undeniable weakness of our race for intoxicating 
liquor. That is the curse which has undoubtedly 
held them back for centuries and has done much to 
impede their progress in the great industrial race in 
this country. Only for their propensity to intoxicating 
liquor, the Irish would be the greatest power in this 



TH^ CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 65 

country to-day. They have all the qualities necessary 
to win success. They have the brain, the brawn, 
and the industry. All that is necessary to win success 
with these is sobriety. Through lack of this cardinal 
virtue the Irish are falling behind other nationalities 
in the great industrial race; and the Hebrews, the 
Italians, and the French, though later arrivals in 
New England, are rapidly forging ahead of them. 
Yet, to give the Irish their due, it must be acknowl- 
edged that these other races have not been at all 
handicapped by their devotion to their religion, as 
the Irish people have been; for not only have the Irish 
built fine churches for themselves but for the French 
and the Italians as well. French and Italian priests 
in Boston admit that most of the contributions for 
their churches came from the generous Irish people. 

Some of our EngHsh cousins tell us that another 
great cause of poverty among the Irish is their lack of 
industry, in other words their laziness. But I believe 
there is a far more deep-lying cause than either of 
these, and that is the robbery and spoliation of the 
Irish people by a tyrannical English Government, for 
hundreds of years. That is the causa causarum, the 
radix or root to which all other causes may be traced. 

How can we expect a man who has been waylaid 
by a highway robber and despoiled of all his posses- 
sions to be rich? What a mockery for a burglar 
after he has rendered his victim unconscious with a 
club to say: "Why don't you stand on your feet and 
walk like everybody else?" That, in a nutshell, is 



66 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

the way that England has treated Ireland. She has 
robbed her not only once but a dozen times and then 
reproached her for her poverty saying: "You miser- 
able, unfortunate beggar! why are you not rich and 
merry like me?" In fact the history of Ireland for 
seven centuries is but one continual act of spoliation 
and robbery on the part of England. 

Ireland was first despoiled by Henry II, and the 
Normans; then by Henry VIII.; but that was nothing 
to the devastation of the whole island with fire and 
sword, from one end to the other, under Queen 
Elizabeth and her successor, James I. Five hundred 
thousand acres of the richest lands in all Ireland, with 
all the buildings erected upon them, were then con- 
fiscated and handed over to English and Scotch ad- 
venturers, whilst the original Irish owners were turned 
out upon the roadside to starve or to be hunted down 
like beasts of prey by the new settlers. 

Yet, even the spoliations of the vindictive Elizabeth 
pale into insignificance in comparison with those of 
the butcher Cromwell. Everybody knows how he 
confiscated the three fairest out of the four provinces 
of Ireland and banished the natives into the most 
barren and desolate corner of the island, telling them 
to: " Go to Hell or Connaught." The few that were 
permitted to remain were doomed to be the serfs of 
the new colonists. 

But England did not consider it sufficient to despoil 
and impoverish the Irish; she was determined that 
she would always keep them poor; so she closed all 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 67 

the avenues of industry against them. In the reign 
of King William and Queen Anne the English Par- 
liament devised a series of penal laws against the Irish 
far more severe than those of Nero or Diocletian 
against the early Christians. Even the devil himself 
could scarcely have devised a more infamous series of 
enactments to enslave a whole race. How often at 
the present day we hear the English reproaching the 
Irish for their illiteracy. Yet who is to be blamed for 
their ignorance but the English themselves; since the 
English Parliament under the severest penalty for- 
bade the Irish to educate their children either at home 
or abroad ? At the present day. too, how frequently 
we hear the Irish reproached for their lack of industry; 
but, again, who is to blame for that but the English 
likewise; for the English Parliament took away from 
the Irish all incentive to industry? Not only were 
they despoiled of their property but they were for- 
bidden to acquire any property in future or even to 
receive it as a gift. An Irish Catholic was not allowed 
to possess even a horse w^orth more than £^. 

Moreover, fearing that Ireland, even in her lowly 
state, might become a dangerous commercial rival, 
England forbade the Irish to engage in any foreign 
commerce. Only the English colonists planted in 
Ireland were allowed this privilege. They had a 
monopoly of the trade; and yet English writers down 
to the present day pretend to be astonished that a 
Protestant city like Belfast is more thriving and pros- 
perous than a Catholic city like Cork. They would 



M THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ' 

like to give the impression that it is all on account of 
the difference in race and religion — the enterprising 
spirit of the Protestant and Englishman and the 
sluggishness of the Catholic and Irishman; but 
nothing is further from the truth. It is all due to the 
merciless tyranny of England in treating the Irish 
as a nation of slaves for three hundred years. They 
were just as much enslaved as the negroes of North 
America were until they were Uberated by Abraham 
Lincoln; for it was only a little more than half a 
century ago that the great Irish agitator, Daniel 
O'Connell, compelled an unwilhng EngHsh ParUa- 
ment to pass the great Irish Emancipation Bill, in 
1829; and thus once more restored to his countrymen 
the dignity of freemen. 

No wonder then that the Irish are poor, as a rule, 
both at home and abroad! The effects of three cen- 
turies of slavery are not undone in an hour. See how 
long it took the chosen people to recover from the 
effects of their Egyptian bondage! They had to re- 
main for forty years in the free air of the desert and 
one whole generation had to pass away before their 
descendants acquired the spirit and heart of freemen. 
So when the Irish were emancipated seventy-five years 
ago, they were in no condition to compete with their 
Anglo-Saxon neighbors in the fields of industry and 
commerce. 

The English had already acquired possession of all 
the markets of the world; whereas the Irish, after 
being robbed so long by England, had no capital to 



fHk CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ^ 

start in any great enterprise and even if they had the 
capital, they lacked the knowledge of the mechanical 
arts to invest it to good advantage; as the English 
penal laws had so long forbidden them to receive 
an education or even to learn a trade. Consequently 
their only industry was the cultivation of the soil. 
Hence when the great Irish exodus started to the 
United States in the famine days of 1847, the Irish 
found themselves homeless, friendless, and helpless, 
cast on a foreign shore, in most cases without any 
trade or education. The native Americans already 
settled there had a great start ahead of them and 
even foreigners coming from other countries had 
generally the advantage of an education and a trade 
which they had learned at home. What remained 
for the poor Irish but to become the laborers — "the 
hewers of wood and the drawers of water?" What 
wonder then that they found it diflScult to compete 
with other races in the great industrial struggle and 
still find it so, even to the present day! However, 
in the western portions of the United States, which 
have been more recently settled, where the Irish 
started more on a footing of equality with other races, 
many Irishmen have risen to the very highest posi- 
tion in the state by their industry and character. 
There are now many Irishmen in the West who are 
multi-millionaires. Among others may be mentioned 
Mr. Cudahy of Chicago. But even here in the East, 
in spite of every disadvantage, have we not many 
Irish millionaires too, notably Mr. Crimmins of New 



)b THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

York and Mr. Prendergast of Boston ? Have not two 
Irishmen, Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Collins been more 
than once elected mayor of the Puritan city of Boston ; 
and who has more influence in the halls of Congress 
at Washington than another Irishmen, the great 
orator, Mr. Burke Cockran ? Who then will presume 
to say that Irishmen, given an equal opportunity, 
cannot com^pete with any other race on the face of 
the earth? 

But why cannot Irishmen be as successful as this 
at home? Because the opportunity is denied them 
by the English Government. Though for more than 
half a century the Irish have been under the very same 
laws as the EngHsh, just as it would be very diffi- 
cult for a sprinter to overtake his rival who has a mile 
handicap, so it will be a long time before the Irish 
can compete with the English, after all the laws of 
repression passed by an English Parliament against 
Irish commerce and in favor of English industry. 

Even yet the Irish have many disadvantages to 
contend with from which the EngHsh are entirely 
free. Only a few years ago, Mr. John Redmond, 
M. P., had a royal commission appointed to investi- 
gate the financial relations between Great Britain and 
Ireland; and, although the commission was composed 
almost entirely of Englishmen, it reported prac- 
tically unanimously that Ireland was taxed every 
year upwards of $12,500,000 above her proportionate 
share of so-called imperial taxation. Yet nothing 
has since been done to redress this crying injustice. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 71 

No wonder then that the Irish are poor! They 
will always remain so until Ireland becomes again an 
independent nation. No country that has been held 
in subjection by another country has ever prospered. 
Look at Canada — a great country almost as rich in 
natural resources as the United States and far larger. 
Yet the United States has over 70,000,000 of people 
most of them quite prosperous and Canada has only 
5,000,000. Even of these few millions there is a 
regular exodus every year to the United States; and 
Canada would soon be depopulated but for her 
European emigration. Why this disparity between 
Canada and the United States ? Because the United 
States is an independent country, where there is an 
incentive to industry; because the people know that 
they are working for themselves; but in Canada there 
is no incentive to industry, for the Canadians 
know that the fruits of their industry will not be for 
themselves, but to enrich ''Mother England." 

A similar condition still exists in Ireland. What 
incentive has an Irishman to work when he knows 
that all the profits of his labor will go into the land- 
lord's pocket? Even if he makes a little improve- 
ment on his land, the landlord will raise the rent on 
the pretext that his holding is worth now more than 
before. Thus the Irish farmer is taxed for his own 
industry. What motive is there then to impel the 
Irish to be industrious ? Can we be astonished there- 
fore if there is some truth in the English accusation 
that the Irish are not an industrious people? 



p THE CELT ABOVE TEE SAXON' 

Not only have the Irish the English landlords to 
support but an English garrison as well, comprising 
the Lord-Lieutenant and 13,000 constabulary. That 
poor degenerate Irishman, Mr. McCarthy already re- 
ferred to in this chapter, has made the allegation 
that it is the Irish priests that have impoverished the 
Irish people. Now certainly the priests of Boston 
receive as much salary as the priests in Ireland ; and 
the salary of a secular priest in this city is only $600 
a year. Who would call that too much salary for a 
man who spends so many years in training as a priest 
does ? Indeed it does not deserve to be called salary 
at all. It is simply intended to pay his expenses. 
But the priest in a religious order gets no salary at all 
but only his miserable subsistance. 

On the contrary, the salary of the Irish Lord- 
Lieutenant is £20,000 or $100,000 a year. Just 
think of it ! the ruler of a little island only three hundred 
miles long getting twice the salary of the President of 
the United States with its seventy millions of people! 
Thus the salary of the Irish viceroy alone would pay 
the salary of one hundred and sixty-seven secular 
priests or any number of regulars. Yet besides the 
Lord-Lieutenant there are in Ireland twenty-three 
English judges of the superior court who receive a 
salary of from £2,000 to £8,000 a year, besides a 
host of minor magistrates. Add to this the salary of 
thirteen thousand constabulary, who are of no benefit 
to the people but are there only to dragoon them and 
force upon them the odious laws of England ; and then 



TUE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 75 

answer if it is true according to Mr. McCarthy that 
the Irish give: "Every Penny to the Church." After 
they have paid the salaries of the English garrison 
we may be sure that they have very little left for the 
Church or anything else. 

That is the reason why Mr. McCarthy himself had 
to abandon his profession of law and turn to writing 
books for the English public; because his own country- 
men did not have the means to employ him, after they 
had satisfied the English tax-gatherer; if indeed it is 
ever possible to satisfy that individual. A short time 
ago I had a conversation with an Irish priest who was 
taking up a collection in this country for his church 
in Ireland. Now that priest was a cousin of Mr. 
McCarthy who wrote that vile book against the 
priests and people of Ireland; and he told me that 
"though McCarthy was his cousin there was a yellow 
streak in him and his father before him." "McCar- 
thy," he said, "is a clever young Irishman who 
graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. That, of 
course, is an English and Protestant institution; but 
whether he imbibed his vile principles there or not 
I cannot say; for many Irishmen have in recent 
years graduated there and still remained loyal to faith 
and fatherland. At any rate, after his graduation 
McCarthy, like a great many other young lawyers, 
found that he could get very little to do in the 
practice of his profession. In a word, he became a 
'briefless barrister.' So he thought that he might 
win the attention of the English Government^ and 



74 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

perhaps be appointed a magistrate, if he should 
write a book against the Home-Rule movement in 
Ireland. Hence he soon became the author of: 
*Five Years in Ireland,' which was a most scathing 
attack on the poHtical aspirations of the Irish people. 
Yet the English Government took no notice of it 
and the magistracy that he longed for never came. 
So McCarthy next penned a still more venomous 
book entitled: 'The Priests and People of Ireland.' " 

No more dastardly attack was ever made by human 
hand upon the race and religion of his countrymen. 
I do not say that every word in that book is a bare- 
faced lie. No doubt there is some foundation in fact; 
but what little grain of truth there is in it is so en- 
veloped in the chaff of error, exaggeration, and mis- 
representation that it will do far more harm than an 
open calumny. Nothing is more dangerous than a 
half-truth. A direct calumny can be easily refuted; 
but Mr. McCarthy's stock in trade in attacking the 
Irish priests and people consists in putting a false 
construction on their actions and a wrong interpreta- 
tion on their motives ; in passing over their virtues en- 
tirely and putting the few petty little faults which they 
have under a magnifying glass. 

I shall not attempt to refute one by one the charges 
which he makes. That would be an endless chain; 
but what I do criticise is the method he follows. 
According to the same method I might get a powerful 
telescope, search out the spot on the sun and con- 
vince myself that it is all black and that there is not 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 75 

a single luminous point in it. On the same principle 
I might paint the character of the Anglo-Saxon so 
black that there would not be a single redeeming 
feature in it. If an Englishman wrote a book like 
McCarthy's about England he would be thrown into 
the Thames. 

The best way to judge of a book is from the im- 
pression it creates. It is therefore sufficient con- 
demnation of McCarthy's book that it has made his 
countrymen — the few that read it — sad, and the 
enemies of his country rejoice. What greater con- 
demnation for any book! After reading that book 
the question naturally arises: "I wonder if there is 
any good at all among the priests and people of Ire- 
land," or as one witty priest has said: "Is it not a 
wonder that God allows such a people to live at all } " 
The natural inference that you derive from the book 
is that there is only one good and wise man in the 
whole island and that is Michael McCarthy. 

Has McCarthy no scruples of conscience in 
thus blackening the character of his countrymen? 
What does he care? His book aroused the curiosity 
of the English Protestant Bible societies and passed 
through several editions. So the shekels soon began 
to pour in upon him and he found this much more 
lucrative than to practice law among his impoverished 
countrymen. Accordingly, he promises to publish 
before very long, another book still more sensational. 

What worse indictment can be found agai Ft the 
English misgovernment of Ireland than that a talented 



76 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

young Irishman can find no more profitable way of 
earning a livelihood than in traducing his own country- 
men? Indeed England has always encouraged such 
disgraceful proceedings, following out her well-known 
policy: '^Divide and Conquer." We know how in 
the time of Queen Elizabeth the children of Irish 
parents were often taken over to England and trained 
up in hatred and horror of their native land, so that 
they might afterv^^ards serve as England's tools against 
their countrymen. In fact one man called Murrough 
O'Brien, brought up in this way, was afterwards sent 
over to Ireland under the title of Lord Inchiquin and 
butchered his own countrymen, men, women, and 
children, aye the very priests at the altar, in cold 
blood. 

We can now understand how Ireland could produce 
such a creature as Michael McCarthy. But still, 
what a despicable fellow he must be to make capital 
by ruining the character of his fellow-men! As a 
well-known English poet has said: 

''Who stealeth from me my purse steals trash; 
But he that filcheth from me my good name 
Robs me of that which not enricheth him and 
makes me poor indeed." 

But what shall we say when this base calumny is 
uttered against a man's own countrymen in order to 
please her traditional foe's ? Dermott McMurrough is 
called a traitor, because he turned his arms against 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 77 

his own countrymen; but if the pen is mightier than 
the sword, what kind of a double-dyed traitor is 
Michael McCarthy who turns his weapons not only 
against his own country but what is still more sacred, 
his own religion also? 

Worse still, whilst making this attack he has the 
effrontery to remain within his country's gates and 
to declare that he is still ''a true Irishman and a true 
Catholic." If he only had the sense of decency to 
renounce his religion and his country before assailing 
them, there might be some palliation of his conduct; 
but no doubt he is fully aware that an enemy within 
can do far more harm than an enemy from without. 
So under the guise of friendship he gives his religion 
and nationality the kiss of Judas. 

If an Englishman had written such a book everyone 
would say that it w^as due to his national prejudices; 
but, as it was written by a man professing to be a true 
Irishman and a true Catholic, people will say: ''Surely 
he must be a good authority; " and thus there is danger 
that it will do a great deal of injury to our race in the 
English-speaking world. Yet it is very evident from 
the rancour of his style that McCarthy is neither a 
true Irishman nor a true Catholic. If he ever pos- 
sessed the Catholic faith at all, it is very manifest 
that he has lost it completely. What can we think 
of a man professing to be a Catholic who declares 
that: "A simple prayer said beside an Irish hedge on 
a Sunday morning is just as good as the Holy Sacrifice 
of the Mass ?" What can we think of a Catholic who 



78 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

is offended at the number of churches erected to the 
glory of God and who declares that the money might 
be spent better to relieve the poor? Was not that 
the argument of Judas just before he betrayed our 
Lord? He was offended because Mary Magdalen 
poured the precious ointment on our Saviour's head, 
saying: "This might be sold for much and given to 
the poor." But our Saviour replied: ''The poor 
you have always with you; but Me you have not 
always with you." 

Neither does McCarthy deserve to be called ''a 
true Irishman;" for a true patriot never reviles his 
country. If he thinks she is going wrong he may 
criticise her, yet with kindness and forbearance; but 
he will never flaunt her faults before the whole civil- 
ized world. As a distinguished American has well 
said, the patriot's motto should be: "May my country 
always be right; but right or wrong it is always my 
country." The great Jewish historian, Josephus, is 
sometimes accused of exhibiting in his writings a 
certain spirit of hostility to his own countrymen and 
of partiality for her enemies; but there was some ex- 
cuse for him; as he was an exile and a captive. Yet 
even Josephus gave utterance to these noble words: 
"May I never become so debased a slave as to revile 
my country or forget my native land." 

Shades of Josephus! WHiere is the patriotism of 
McCarthy who has not a word of praise even for the 
beautiful valleys and charming scenery of his native 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 79 

land ? As the great Scottish poet, Sir Walter Scott, 
has well said: 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said: 
'This is my own, my native land,' 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned ; 
As home his footsteps he hath turned, 
From wandering on a foreign strand?" 

''If such there be, go! mark him well, 
For him no minstrel raptures swell; 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim ; 
Despite these titles, power and pelf. 
The wretch concentred all in self. 
Living shall forfeit fair renown 
And doubly dying shall go down 
To the vile dust from whence he sprung, 
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung." 

So will Mr. McCarthy go down to the vile dust as 
the traducer of his native land, its priests, and people. 
Though he has not said anything new, but only re- 
hashed the same old calumnies that the English have 
been circulating against the Irish for hundreds of 
years; yet coming from the lips of an Irishman him- 
self these old accusations will be doubly harmful in 
their new disguise. But certainly, no Englishman 
has ever written against the Irish people with half the 



So THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

bitterness that this denationalized Irishman has em- 
ployed against his own race. On the contrary, many 
English travelers who have passed through Ireland, 
especially in recent years, have spoken in very com- 
plimentary terms of the inhabitants thereof. 

Froude is not generally considered a very dear 
friend of the Irish ; yet he marvels at the extraordinary 
honesty of the people saying: ^'They sleep without 
any bolts on their doors or fastenings on their windows 
as securely as if they were with the angels in Paradise." 
Still more complimentary to the Irish people is the 
account of them which the English writer Thackeray 
has left us in his "Irish Sketch Book." If only Mr. 
McCarthy had read that book it would make him so 
proud of his native land, its priests, and people that 
it is extremely doubtful if he would ever have published 
his infamous book entitled: ''The Priests and People 
of Ireland." 

Besides reaping a rich harvest from the English 
reading public, it would seem as if the second object 
of McCarthy's book was to divide the priests and 
people of Ireland; to set the laity against the clergy, 
as the apostate Combes is endeavoring to do in France 
at the present day, by striving to persuade the people 
that it is the Church and not the tyranny of the 
Government that is the cause of their poverty. But 
it will require more than McCarthy to make the 
people antagonize the priests. The people know well 
that their clergy take very little from them in return 
for all that they do for them; and of what little they 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 8i 

do take very little indeed is for themselves. It is spent 
for the glory of God in building or repairing churches, 
schools, and convents. Thus it returns again to the 
people in furnishing useful employment for carpen- 
ters, bricklayers, and laborers. The people know 
very well, too, that they would spend far more in 
one law-suit in hiring a lawyer like McCarthy than 
they would be called upon to contribute to the 
Church for years. The people know also how many 
vexatious law-suits they are spared by the kindly 
arbitration of their priests, who settle many a quarrel 
of their parishioners out of court without any expense 
to them. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that 
makes Mr. McCarthy so extremely bitter in his book 
against the priests; because unintentionally they 
have kept him from exploiting the people. 

Ohl no, Mr. McCarthy, you cannot deceive the 
Irish people as easily as that. They know that their 
priests are their best friends, to whom they naturally 
turn for consolation in the hour of their greatest need, 
the hour of sickness and death. It is then they thank 
God that they have theur soggarth aroon by their side ; 
and he never refuses to come, no matter how loathsome 
or dangerous the disease; no matter how biting the 
frost on a cold winter's night. 

"Who was it on a winter's night, 

Soggarth aroon. 
When the cold blast did bite, 

Soggarth aroon; 



82 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Came to my cabin door; 

And on my earthen floor, 
Knelt by me sick and poor, 

Soggarth aroon?" 

What wonder that the Irish people love their priests ! 
What wonder that the tender affection they cherish 
for their clergy is the cause of no little envy in the 
hearts of non- Catholics and renegades from the 
Catholic Church! But there is one thing that the 
Irish people will never forget; and that is an act of 
kindness done them. They know that their priests 
did not forsake them when they had no earthly com- 
pensation to hope for from their flock; and when the 
same reward was offered for the head of a priest as 
for the head of a wolf. Yet the priests braved death 
itself in order to offer up the Holy Sacrifice of the 
Mass for their flock, in the depths of the forest, in the 
caverns of the earth, or on the lonely mountain side. 
No wonder that the generous-hearted Irish people 
sometimes show their appreciation by remembering 
their priests in their wills, even though it should shock 
the tender heart of Mr. McCarthy! It is very seldom 
indeed that the Irish, after satisfying the demands of 
the English Government, have the means thus to show 
their gratitude to their clergy; but if in one case out of 
a hundred, a wealthy man should leave a little money 
for Masses, for the repose of his soul, to what better 
use could he put it ? Do we not read in Holy Scripture 
itself that: "It is a holy and a wholesome thought 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON S3 

to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from 
their sins?" 

However, Mr. McCarthy says that it would be better 
to leave the money to the poor. But the best way to 
reach the poor is through the priests, since they are 
always giving to the poor, though of course they do 
not sound a trumpet before them every time they give 
an alms. Our Catholic people of means know this 
full well, and that is why they sometimes leave a be- 
quest to their priests; because they know they will 
put it to the very best use. 

We cannot better conclude this chapter than by 
referring to the beautiful poem of the late John Boyle 
O'Reilly, entitled: "The Priests of Ireland." If only 
Mr. McCarthy would read that grand production, 
I have no doubt that it would be of great benefit to 
him. What a contrast between McCarthy's splenetic 
attack on the Irish priests and John Boyle O'Reilly's 
noble, soul-stirring eulogium: 

''Heaven bless you, priests of Ireland, 

You, the soggarth in the famine and the helper in the 

frost ; 
You, whose shadow was a comfort when all other 
hope was lost." 

There is just as much contrast between John Boyle 
O'Reilly's estimate of the Irish priests and Michael 
McCarthy's as there is between the character of these 
two gentlemen themselves. McCarthy seems to be 



84 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

a'poor soul that has shrunken away under the tyranny 
of the British Government, and is now so shrivelled 
up that it actually prefers to be in bondage; but the 
most debased slave of all is the one that kisses the 
chains which bind him. O'Reilly on the other hand 
was a grand, fearless, and noble character, who hated 
the English Government as the cause of all the poverty 
and misery of the Irish people, but loved his priests 
as the greatest benefactors of his race. Whom shall 
we believe, Michael McCarthy or John Boyle 
O'ReiUy? 



CHAPTER II. 

Prosperity of England. 

AS we intimated in our previous chapter, it would 
be manifestly unfair to compare a free and in- 
dependent country with one that has lost its 
independence and has been for centuries ground 
down in the dust. In all ages, the loss of a country's 
freedom has affected it like a blight upon the crops. 
Just as soon as the blight falls upon the crops they 
begin to wither and decay. So whenever a country 
lost its independence it invariably ceased to develop 
and straightway entered on its downward course. 
Thus Persia, Greece, Rome, and Carthage were great 
and prosperous as long as they retained their free- 
dom, but what are they to-day ? So to compare the 
prosperity of Ireland and England at the present 
time would be the same as comparing the twelfth 
century with the twentieth; for Erin has never made 
any advancement since she came under the yoke of 
the Anglo-Saxon. On the contrary, she has never 
ceased to go backward from that fatal period even 
to the present day. 

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that England 
has during that same period generally enjoyed great 
prosperity. But we shall now see that this prosperity 
has been gained by the robbery and spoliation of the 



86 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

weaker nations of the earth. We shall observe, too, 
that England's prosperity is not a genuine healthy 
prosperity; because the masses of her population are 
trodden down in poverty and degradation in order 
that a few of the privileged class may live in luxury 
and ease. 

There has never yet existed on this earth a nation 
that has been such a notorious spoiler as England. 
Everybody knows how shamefully she despoiled 
Ireland, not once but a doze!n times; and now after 
she has taken everything that Ireland possessed, she 
has the effrontery to pose before the nations of the 
world as the generous conqueror; and she offers to 
sell back to the Irish at a twenty years' purchase the 
very land that she robbed from their forefathers. 
He is certainly a magnanimous thief who first de- 
spoils his victim and then offers to sell back to him 
the very property of which he has robbed him. 

Just as England robbed Ireland she despoiled 
Scotland and Wales likewise. Like that little animal 
called the weasel, she, as it were, sucked the very life- 
blood from their veins and waxed fat on the very 
marrow of their bones. What wonder if Ireland, 
Scotland, and Wales would be poor, wretched, and 
emaciated; while John Bull is growing more corpulent 
every day! 

But the British Isles were not a sufficiently wide 
field for the depredations of the Anglo-Saxon. History 
tells us how in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at a 
time when England and Spain were at peace, the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ^-j 

English freebooter, Sir Francis Drake, enriched his 
native land by plundering the Spanish galleons re- 
turning from the West Indies laden with gold and 
silver. We can form some idea of the extent of his 
depredations from the fact that in a single Spanish 
ship which he captured he seized an enormous treasure 
amounting to $800,000. Yet, though his conduct was 
nothing more or less than piracy pure and simple, on 
his return to England, Queen Elizabeth visited him 
on board his ship and bestowed on him the order of 
knighthood for his distinguished services. 

But the treasures which thus far flowed into the 
coffers of England were nothing in comparison with 
what she was now to gain from the spoliation of 
India. Before the discovery of America, India was 
looked upon as the richest and most fertile country 
in the world. For centuries vague traditions of its 
countless treasures hung like a vista before Europe; 
and the fondest dream of European navigators was 
to discover a shorter route to its golden shores. In 
fact it was whilst seeking for the East Indies that 
Columbus by mere accident discovered America. 

Judge then what must have been the spoils which 
England gained from the conquest of India, that 
land so noted for its gold, silver, and diamonds; its 
costly robes of silk, grand tapestries, and all the 
splendor of Oriental luxury. Suffice it to say that 
those English adventurers who went out thither poor 
and needy returned in a few years to dazzle their 
countrymen by their enormous wealth, so that they 



88 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

received the title of Nabobs, an appellation formerly 
applied to only the viceroys of India. The great 
English novelist, Mr. Thackeray, has an excellent 
description of the arrogance, the ostentation, and the 
vulgar display of wealth of these English Nabobs in 
his famous novel called ''Vanity Fair;" for one of 
its leading characters is a young man called Mr. 
Joseph Sedley, who went out as a clerk of the East 
India Company, accumulated an immense fortune, 
and then came back to England to spend his wealth 
in riotousness and debauchery. But as the great 
Latin Poet Virgil said: ^^ Ex uno disce om7ies.^^ From 
the conduct of one you may judge them all; for as Mr. 
Sedley acted so did Lord Clive, Warren Hastings, and 
all the other English harpies despoil the natives on 
all sides. Even up to the present day England main- 
tains in India a standing army of 300,000 men besides 
145,000 police. This vast garrison has only one ob- 
ject in view, to rob the poor defenceless natives in 
order to enrich themselves and fill the English ex- 
chequer. As a result England derives every year 
from the internal revenue of her Indian empire 
$450,000,000, and her receipts for commerce with 
India amount to $600,000,000. What wonder that 
England has become enormously wealthy from the 
spoliation of India! 

But alas! for India herself. She may well curse 
the day that the English first set foot upon her shores. 
Before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon India was blest 
with prosperity and plenty; because it is a country 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 89 

which is naturally most fertile and productive. Like 
the United States of America, it enjoys every variety 
of vegetation and climate, for it extends from the 
tropic shores of Bengal to the frigid regions of Mt. 
Everest, with its peaks of perpetual snow. Hence 
in all the literature that has come down to us up to 
the eighteenth century, whether from the early Greek 
historians, or from the French, who controlled India 
before ever the English set foot upon the soil, or from 
the native Indian writers themselves, there is not even 
so much as a hint of any famine ever having visited 
that fertile country. Yet since the English became 
masters of the land it has been devastated by six 
terrible visitations of famine during which hundreds 
and thousands of people suffered the awful death of 
starvation in a country naturally flowing with milk 
and honey. We all remember how even in our own 
day, only a few years ago, whilst the English were 
shooting down the Boers, a brave people fighting for 
their rights, that same terrible scourge of famine again 
fell upon India and swept away tens of thousands of 
its population. 

English apologists make the excuse that these 
famines are due to the failure of the rice crops for lack 
of rain. But why did not the rice crop fail before 
the arrival of the English? Moreover why should 
the natives of India confine their industry mainly to 
the cultivation of a little rice sufficient to keep body 
and soul together, when their lands are capable of 
producing all kinds of crops ? Is it not because they 



96 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

know it would be useless any longer to exert themselves 
to raise fine crops, when all the fruits of their labor 
will go only to enrich their English oppressors ? Have 
we not here an exact counterpart of the famine in 
Ireland owing to the failure of the potato crop ? In 
both cases the real cause of the famine is not the 
failure of the crops, but a cause whose roots go much 
further back than that, viz., English tyranny. 

As England has despoiled and impoverished India, 
so has she done to every country throughout the world 
wherever she could get a foothold, whether in Canada, 
Australia, or South Africa. It is the same story of 
tyranny and oppression everywhere. Canada was 
discovered, explored, and settled by France, yet like 
a genuine robber, England is to-day reaping the 
harvest planted by the French. Australia was dis- 
covered by the Spaniards and Dutch ; but to-day they 
have not a single foot of territory in the whole con- 
tinent. England has grabbed it all. If England 
had no other foreign possessions but Australia, that 
alone should be sufficient to make her a rich and 
prosperous country. Just think of it — Australia pours 
every year into the lap of England the vast output 
of $28,000,000 in gold; the revenue from commerce 
amounts to $500,000,000 more; and the provinces of 
Victoria alone has already yielded over $1,000,000,000 
from her gold mines. 

Why then should we marvel that England is a more 
prosperous country than Ireland? Has not England 
the spoils of the whole world to enrich her? She 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON gi 

may boast that on her dominions the sun never sets, 
which means nothing else than that the smi never 
sets on her robbery and spoHation; though we 
should expect that the sun and moon would hide 
their face in shame at the sight of her unblushing 
depredations. 

Still England is not yet satisfied. She has taken 
the lion as the symbol of her nation; but the king of 
beasts is far too noble an animal to be the emblem of 
England; for it is possible to satisfy the appetite of 
the lion and when his hunger is satiated he is a per- 
fectly harmless animal. The English should rather 
have taken as their national emblem the man-eating 
Bengal tiger; for he is never satisfied; because even 
when satiated with food, he is still blood-thirsty 
for slaughter for the mere fiendish delight of it. So 
England, though she has already more than the lion's 
share of the world still craves for more. 

It is not at all necessary to scan the pages of history 
in order to prove this. During the last few years we 
have had sufficient evidence of that under our own 
eyes. Wherever gold or silver, or diamonds have 
been discovered — no matter in what country — England 
has always under some pretext or other stepped in 
and said: ''This land belongs to me." Just as 
soon as gold was discovered in Alaska, England im- 
mediately set up a claim to the gold-fields of Klondyke. 
But, as the United States was not a weak nation that 
she could bully, she consented to submit the question 
to arbitration; and of course lost. 



92 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Again, we remember how a few years ago when 
gold was discovered at the mouth of the Orinoco, 
England endeavored to get possession of the gold 
fields for herself, claiming that they were in the terri- 
tory of British Guiana, though it was as plain as day 
that they belonged to Venezuela. England would 
hear nothing of arbitration then. Oh! no; until that 
grand old man of democracy, Grover Cleveland, 
stepped in and quickly brought John Bull to his 
senses; as we have seen in Chapter VII. 

Ohl for an hour of Grover Cleveland a few years 
afterwards, when England was bullying the two little 
sister republics of South Africa, because they had the 
misfortune to have diamonds discovered within their 
borders. But alas! a very different man from Cleve- 
land then occupied the White House at Washington. 
McKinley was a very kind-hearted and amiable man, 
but also a very weak character who was very easily 
influenced. However, as he now bears upon his 
brow the halo of martyrdom, it would be unwise to 
cast any reflections upon him. Yet it must be ad- 
mitted that he was to a great extent dominated over 
by the late Republican leader, Mark Hanna. But 
as the proverb says: ^^ Nihil de mortuis nisi bonum.^' 
However, the greatest mistake of McKinley's life 
was in appointing as his Secretary of State a man who 
had just been the American ambassador to England 
and who had become so imbued with English ideas 
that he was in reality no longer an American at heart. 
It is said that our American ambassadors to the Court 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 93 

of St. James become so dazzled with English high 
society that only a very strong character can resist its 
influence. Most of them become completely dis- 
Americanized; but John Hay became the worst Anglo- 
maniac of them all. There is little doubt that it 
was under the influence of this man that President 
McKinley, though a descendant of Irish parents, dis- 
played such deplorable pro-English sympathies during 
his administration. In fact he made the United 
States the regular cat's-paw of England. Many 
Americans believe to this day that McKinley 's whole 
foreign policy was directed from London by that 
astute English politician, Joseph Chamberlain. They 
are firmly convinced that it was Chamberlain that 
embroiled the United States in war with Spain over 
Cuba and directed her to seize upon the Philippine 
Islands, so that she might serve England as a counter- 
poise in the East against Russia. Thus the United 
States is indebted to John Hay and Joseph Chamber- 
lain for the vexatious problem of the Philippines 
which is puzzling her statesmen even to the present 
day ; and seems likely to cause them much more trouble 
in future. Chamberlain himself seemed to acknowl- 
edge this in a speech to his constituents in England, 
when he declared that: "Though there was no al- 
liance between England and the United States, there 
was an understanding that was better than any 
treaty." No doubt it was by virtue of that "under- 
standing" that during McKinley 's administration, 
for the first time in the history of the United "States, 



94 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

two Irish patriots just released from an English prison, 
were denied admission into this country, on the ground 
that they were convicts; yet their only crime was in 
defending their Country's rights; and the great Amer- 
ican republic had always made it her proud boast 
that she had ever extended a welcome hand to the 
oppressed of all nations. Indeed, never before had 
the United States repelled from her shores any exile 
whose only offence was a political crime in behalf 
of freedom committed in the Old World. What 
wonder that one of these deported patriots exclaimed : 
**Has the United States then humiliated herself to be 
once more a mere colony of England? The only 
thing now needed to complete her degradation is to 
hoist the Union Jack at Washington above the Stars 
and Stripes." 

But the most shameful and disgraceful proceeding 
of all on the part of McKinley and Hay was to allow 
England to strangle to death the two heroic little re- 
publics of South Africa without a word of protest. 
Nay, more, they actually permitted England to estab- 
lish a camp near New Orleans for the purchase of 
American mules, to ride down the poor Boer farmers; 
and it is the opinion of Colonel Blake, that brave 
American, who fought side by side with the Boers, as 
the leader of the Irish Brigade, and afterwards wrote 
the history of the war, that but for the assistance which 
England thus derived from the United States she 
would have been ignominiously defeated. Well 
therefore may the United States blush through shame 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 95 

for her share in this nefarious deed; for have we not 
in the destruction of the two South African Republics 
an exact counterpart of the Biblical narrative con- 
cerning the robbery and murder of Naboth by Achab 
and Jezabel, in order to get possession of his vine- 
yard? But just as the anger of God afterwards fell 
upon the guilty pair and they paid the penalty with 
their life, so, doubtless, God's wrath will also be final- 
ly kindled against guilty England for all her robberies 
and all the blood she has shed. As our gifted Irish- 
American poet, James Jeffrey Roche, has well said: 

Her robes are of purple and scarlet. 
And the kings have bent their knees 

To the gemmed and jeweled harlot 
Who sitteth on many seas. 

They have drunk the abominations, 

Of her golden cup of shame; 
She has drugged and debauched the nations 

With the mystery of her name. 

Her merchants have gathered riches 

By the power of her wantonness, 
And her usurers are as leeches 

On the world's supreme distress. 

She has scoured the seas as a spoiler; 

Her mart is a robber's den, 
With the wasted toil of the toiler, 

And' the mortgaged souls of men. 



96 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Her crimson flag is flying, 

Where the East and West are one; 

Her drums while the day is dying 
Salute the rising sun. 

She has scourged the weak and the lowly 

And the just with an iron rod; 
She is drunk with the blood of the holy — 

She shall drink of the wrath of God. 

If a private individual behaved as England has been 
acting for centuries, he would be instantly cast into 
prison. Indeed many a man is now in prison for 
life for doing only on a small scale what England has 
been perpetrating for fifteen hundred years. 

A few weeks ago the police of London captured 
a woman who was called the "Queen of Burglars." 
Her arrest caused a great sensation in England, be- 
cause until then she had been considered a lady of 
exemplary character. She moved in the highest 
society and was widely noted for her charitable and 
philanthropic deeds. She had a splendid villa in the 
suburbs of London, most gorgeously furnished, and 
she drove through the streets of the capital in a stately 
carriage, drawn by a span of horses, driven by a 
coachman in stylish livery. She dressed like a queen 
and had servants galore. Yet, who would believe 
it? — all that luxury and grandeur she acquired by 
burglarizing her neighbors' houses at the dead of 
night; and so skilfully did she cover up her tracks that 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 97 

for a long time not a breath of suspicion fell upon her. 
Even the Scotland Yard detectives, supposed to be the 
cleverest in the world, failed to entrap her. 

There we have an exact counterpart of England, 
that has so long passed before the other nations of the 
world as an exemplary power, which has become 
prosperous through the industry and enterprise of 
her citizens; when in reality nearly all her wealth has 
been accumulated from the robbery and spoliation 
of the weaker nations of the earth. Hence the poet 
has well said that 

"Her mart is a robber's den;" 
for, though there are thousands of honest English- 
men who would rather cut off their right hand than 
steal, what is the property of the great English lords 
but the spoil of the world? 

Yet, in spite of all her plundering and spoliation for 
centuries, England is not blest with a genuine healthy 
prosperity. We cannot call that country truly prosper- 
ous when the great mass of the people are ground 
down in poverty and wretchedness in order to keep a 
few privileged individuals rolling in wealth and lolling 
in idleness. But that is exactly the kind of prosperity 
which England enjoys. It is true, a few of her princes, 
lords, earls, and dvikes possess sumptuous mansions, 
immense demesnes and a great retinue of servants; 
but, as we have seen, all this splendor has been derived 
from the plunder of the world. 

However, as the proverb says: "What's got badly, 
goes badly." Many of these nobles ? instead of spend- 



98 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

ing their wealth for the elevation of their fellow-men, 
the encouragement of commerce, and the promotion 
of industry, rather squander it in gambling at the 
Derby or Ascot races or in the notorious gambling 
resort of Monte Carlo. In fact many of them have 
thus squandered away a princely estate, and then, in 
order to repair their wasted fortunes sent orders to 
rack-rent still more their poor unfortunate tenants 
in England or Ireland. Other spend-thrift nobles are 
obliged to mortgage their ancestral estates to the last 
penny and then strive to redeem their patrimony by 
coming out to the United States to seek in marriage 
the hand of a rich American heiress who is so foolish 
as to purchase an empty title with her father's im- 
mense wealth. Thus these proud English lords have 
become the laughing-stock of the western continent, 
and you can scarcely take up a comic journal without 
noticing the most ludicrous caricatures of them. 

But alas for the common people 1 Who can describe 
the misery and wretchedness in which they are 
steeped ? In glaring contrast to the gorgeous splendor 
and grandeur of the English nobility is the abject 
and forlorn condition of the common people of 
Britain. Notwithstanding her boasted prosperity, 
there is no country on the face of the earth where so 
much misery and wretchedness exists among the great 
mass of the people as in England. To be convinced 
of this all that is necessary is to read that learned 
work entitled: "Protestant and Catholic Countries 
Compared." This book was written by the late 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 99 

great missionary, Father Young, a Paulist priest, who 
had traveled extensively in England and made a 
critical study of her social system, so that he certainly 
knew whereof he spoke. Moreover, as he was a 
convert to Catholicity, and likewise of English descent, 
it cannot very logically be asserted that he was 
prejudiced against England. 

But he is not by any means the only author who has 
left us a most vivid description of the degraded state 
of the English masses. There is another book equally 
learned on the subject written by an American Prot- 
estant gentleman, who relates to us what he witnessed 
with his own eyes less than thirty years ago. We 
refer to the famous work of Charles Lester entitled: 
"The Glory and Shame of England." The effect of 
perusing such a book is simply appalling. There is 
no better proof of the old adage: "Truth is stranger 
than fiction;" for not even the wildest flight of the 
imagination would have led us to suspect that there 
existed so much poverty and wretchedness in England 
did we not find it narrated by such unquestionable 
authority. English travelers may marvel at the 
\vretchedness and poverty in the desolate regions of 
Connemara, in the west of Ireland, but even there 
after all the desolation wrought by the tyranny of 
England and the extortion of English landlords, there 
is nothing in all Ireland that can compare with the 
poverty and wretchedness in a great English city like 
London or Liverpool. Mr. Lester assures us that 
the social condition of twenty per cent of the popula- 



loo THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

tion of these two cities is far more degraded than 
that of the Helots of ancient Greece or the West 
Indian slaves before their emancipation. Their dwell- 
ings are only wretched cellars ten or twelve feet 
square and six feet high, where father, mother, and 
children of all ages and sexes are huddled together 
like cattle, with a total disregard of all the decencies 
of life. Certainly no Esquimaux or African savage 
would or could live in such awful dens. 

But we are not required to accept this startling 
narration on the word of a foreigner, however un- 
prejudiced, for the English themselves admit it with 
shame. A committee appointed by the Cambridge 
University, in 1850, to investigate the social condition 
of the poor reported that "they were in a more de- 
graded condition than even the beasts in the field and 
that their wretchedness, filth, and degradation were 
a disgrace to any civilized country." 

We may therefore readily believe Mr. Lester when 
he assures us that: "There is more misery, more 
acute suffering among the mass of the people of Eng- 
land than there is in any other kingdom of the world. 
There are thousands homeless, breadless, friendless, 
without shelter, raiment or hope in the world; millions 
uneducated, only half-fed, driven to crime and every 
species of vice which ignorance and destitution bring 
in their train, to an extent utterly unknown to the less 
enlightened, the less free, the less favored, and the 
less powerful kingdoms of Europe." 

But still more dreadful is the account taken by Mr. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON loi 

Lester from an English journal of the horrible degrada- 
tion existing among the operators in the local mines of 
England: 

"The infernal cruelties practised upon boys and 
girls in the coal mines, those graves of comfort and 
virtue, have never in any age been outdone. We 
have sometimes read with shuddering disgust of the 
outrages committed upon helpless children by men 
in naked savageness. We aver our belief that in cold- 
blooded atrocity they do not equal what is going on 
from day to day in some of our coal mines. Young 
creatures, both male and female, six, seven, eight, 
nine years old, stark naked in some cases, chained 
like brutes to coal carriages, and dragging them on 
all fours through sludge six and seven inches deep, 
in total darkness for ten, twenty, and in special in- 
stances thirty hours successively, without any other 
cessation even to get meals than is usually afforded 
by the unreadiness of the miners. Here is a pretty 
picture of British civilization!" What wonder that 
John Ruskin called the English coal mines: "Hell- 
pits!" 

Perhaps our readers will imagine that a great im- 
provement has taken place among the English masses 
during the last thirty years, since Mr. Lester wrote 
his famous book, and that all the old social evils have 
been abolished. But that is a great mistake. They 
still exist as flagrantly as ever. Even so strenuous 
an imperialist as Joseph Chamberlain in an article 



I02 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXONi 

in the London Fortnightly Review as recently as 
December, 1883, thus wrote: 

"Never before in our history were wealth and the 
evidences of wealth more abundant; and never be- 
fore was the misery of the poor more intense, or the 
condition of their daily life more hopeless or more 
degraded. England has a million of paupers and a 
million more are on the verge of it." 

But, lest our critics may allege that our data is be- 
hind the times and that our statistics are not up to 
date, we now introduce as it were a flash-light picture 
of English social life far more recent than anything 
we have so far presented. It is a very able article 
by Judson Grenell in the Boston Sunday Herald, 
dated June 26, 1904. Surely we want nothing more 
recent than that. 

The author relates how in his travels through Eng- 
land he came to the town of Cradley Heath, one of the 
suburbs of Birmingham, the home of the irrepressible 
Joseph Chamberlain, and there what a dreadful sight 
met his gaze! Women whom he styles: ''Female 
Vulcans" were actually working at the forge like 
men, with one hand operating the bellows and the 
other wielding the hammer at the laborious task of 
making chains. Yet for this arduous labor all that 
they received for wages was thirty-six cents a day. 
Can we imagine anything more humiliating or more 
degrading to womanhood than this? Search all the 
books of ancient and modern times and you will find 
nothing so revolting even among the Pagans of old. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOK 103 

What wonder that the author declares that ''Many 
of these poor women appeared hard-visaged and others 
sought for consolation in the beer glass;" for is not 
such unnatural toil sufficient to demoralize any 
woman? Wliere but in England can such a horrible 
state of affairs be found ? Ireland with all her poverty 
and misery would never allow her women to degrade 
themselves to such a level. 

What is the cause of such a dreadful condition of 
things as exists in England even at this period of en- 
lightenment, the opening of the twentieth century? 
It is all due to the English Government and its iniqui- 
tous system, which exploits the great mass of the popu- 
lation and reduces them to misery and degradation 
in order that the lords and gentry may live in idleness 
and luxury. As Mr. Lester says: ''The Govern 
ment of England is a government of privileges and 
monopolies: the few are born booted and spurred to 
ride over the many. The working classes are de- 
graded and oppressed. All but the privileged classes 
are taxed from their birth to their death. All are 
taxed to pamper a haughty aristocracy and the 
privileged orders." 

"The great crime of England Hes in sustaining 
a system which oppresses, starves, and brutalizes the 
masses of her subjects. The Government of England 
makes poor men poorer and the rich men richer. I 
therefore say that no other population can be found on 
the earth that see so much luxury and have so few of 
the necessaries of life, that dwell in such filthy hovels 



I04 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

and dens, that bask so little in the sunshine of 
heaven." 

What is really needed is some industrial shock to 
the whole British nation which will direct the gaze 
of the people to the real cause of their poverty and 
social degradation. There is only one remedy — to 
abolish the House of Lords entirely, do away with all 
the privileged classes, and make all men equal before 
the law, as in the United States. Then all the natural 
resources of the country will no longer be monopo- 
lized by a few privileged lords and gentry who reap 
where they have not sown and who compel millions 
of people to crowd into foul slums in order that they 
and their children may sit in the lap of luxury and be 
denied nothing. When will the English people learn 
the lesson? 



CHAPTER HI. 

Celtic and Saxon Architecture and Art. 

BESIDES victory in war and prosperity in peace, 
there are several other marks which indicate 
the superiority of one nation over another. 
Prominent among these are skill in the fine arts, such 
as architecture, sculpture, and painting; proficiency 
in science, such as astronomy and philosophy; and 
preeminence in literature, music and poetry. 

Who that has ever gazed on the ruins of ancient 
Egypt, its famous pyramids and its renowned sphinx 
has failed to be convinced of its great superiority in 
civilization over other nations of the same period? 
Wliere is the traveler who has ever set eyes on the 
ruins of ancient Greece, its Acropolis, its Parthenon, 
its Atheanaeum and its Areopagus, and can doubt 
that thousands of years ago it far excelled in civili- 
zation all the other nations of antiquity by which 
it was then surrounded? So, too, the ruins of the 
old Roman Colisseum and the Arch of Titus are 
sufficient to convince us that the old Romans had 
arrived at a very high degree of civilization before 
the downfall of their empire. 

Wlien we come to draw a comparison between Irish 
and English art, certainly we have no reason to be 
ashamed of our ancestors. It is true, English writers 



io6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

sometimes reproach us because our forefathers once 
h'ved m houses of wicker-work covered over with 
reeds; but they should remember that this was before 
the introduction of Christianity; and this was the 
very same style of house which existed in France 
and Germany at that period. In fact even up to the 
last century many of the Highlanders of Scotland built 
their dwellings after the very same fashion. 

But in the course of time the artistic skill of our 
ancestors developed and in the middle ages all classes 
dwelt in comfortable houses of wood — far better 
houses than the majority of the inhabitants possess 
now after the mestimable blessing of seven centuries 
of Anglo-Saxon civilization. According to some 
authorities, it was during the middle ages also that 
the Irish constructed against the incursions of the 
Danes those famous Round Towers, which are the 
wonder of tourists even to this day and are the near- 
est approach to the pyramids of ancient Egypt. So 
substantially were they constructed that after cen- 
turies many of them have defied the gnawing tooth 
of time even to the present hour. 

However, it was in the construction of their churches 
and monasteries that the Irish exhibited their greatest 
architectural skill and proved themselves a most 
distinctly religious people. Nothing is more interest- 
ing whilst traveling through Ireland now than to study 
the ruins of the magnificent Irish churches and abbeys 
erected over a thousand years ago, for they are beauti- 
ful even in their desolation and loudly attest the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 107 

architectural skill of our ancestors. All these great 
religious edifices were constructed of stone in the 
Romanesque style, with the circular arch. The walls 
were tastefully adorned and the capitols gracefully 
ornamented with figures totally unlike anything in 
England or the continent; which shows clearly that 
the work was executed by native artists and that the 
Irish at that time were skilful not only at architecture 
but likewise at sculpture and painting. The gigantic 
crosses and crucifixes of the Saviour erected also at 
this period are splendid testimonials of Irish art; and 
the Celtic cross has since then become famous all 
over the world. 

But the golden age of Irish art was just before the 
English invasion, in the twelfth century under the 
great Irish King, Turlough O 'Conor, who may justly 
be called the Augustus of Western Ireland, if not of 
Western Europe. During his long reign of fifty years 
he built the splendid Cathedral of Tuam and several 
other beautiful churches and monasteries, through the 
instrumentality of that great Irish family of architects 
called the O'Duffys, who were to Ireland what 
Macenas was to Rome or Phidias to Athens. 

In strange contrast to this architectural skill of our 
forefathers was the obtuseness of the early Anglo- 
Saxons who landed in Britain; for they gave no 
evidence of any artistic skill at all, unless indeed we 
call plundering an art; and at that they were adepts. 
They did not even construct their own dwellings but 
simply took possession of the houses which they 



io8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

robbed from their lawful owners, the Britons. When 
these abodes fell into decay they would not so much 
as take the pains to repair them. What w^onder that 
the historian, Guest, though himself an Englishman, 
is obliged to confess that at the time of the Norman 
conquest of England in the eleventh centur}^ the Eng- 
glish dwelt in "mean and despicable houses." In 
fact to-day throughout the length and breadth of the 
land our modern English people cannot point out 
a single monument or edifice that would testify to the 
artistic skill of their ancestors. 

But from the time of the Norman conquest a new 
day of architectural splendor began to dawn over 
England; so that the subjugation of Britain by William 
the Conqueror was really a great blessing in disguise. 
The Normans, having learned from their French 
neighbors the arts and sciences which had been taught 
them by their Roman masters, were skilful architects 
and built many beautiful and stately churches far 
superior to any yet seen in England. Many of the 
most famous English cathedrals were erected at this 
period. It is true the celebrated Westminster Abbey 
was erected just before the Norman conquest; but 
it was built by Edward the Confessor, whose mother 
was French, whilst he himself was educated in Nor- 
mandy and was far more French than English. The 
original structure in the Romanesque style, with 
rounded arches, was torn down later by King Henry 
III. and a nobler edifice in the Gothic style, with 
pointed arches was erected in its stead, This with 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 109 

a few modifications is the modern Westminster Abbey, 
which has survived to the present day and which 
Englishmen with pardonable pride call: "the love- 
liest thing in Christendom." 

Another religious structure of which the English 
are very proud is the Canterbury Cathedral; but the 
church which is the idol of their heart is St. Paul's 
Cathedral in London. Yet an American priest who 
has traveled all over Europe has assured me that it 
is only a poor imitation of St. Peter's Cathedral in 
Rome. 

We fail therefore to see how England with all her 
resources displays any superiority in art over Ireland. 
Who could blame poor Ireland at the present day if 
she did not possess imposing churches and gorgeous 
cathedrals like other nations, since she has been de- 
spoiled of all her resources by England? What in- 
centive had the Irish to demonstrate their architec- 
tural skill when as the poet says: 

"Chill penury repressed their noble rage 
And froze the genial current of the soul"? 

Yet, in spite of every drawback, Irish art even at 
the present day will not suffer much in comparison 
with the Anglo-Saxon. The Irish cities of Dublin 
and Cork, though not by any means as large or 
opulent as London or Liverpool, nevertheless display 
in their public buildings a skill in architecture not 
surpassed by the proudest city in England. But 



no THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

where is the church throughout all England that 
surpasses the new Cathedral of Queenstown, which 
eminent judges declare to be one of the handsomest 
churches in the world? Yet it is said that the 
Cathedral just completed at Armagh is even more 
magnificent than that at Queenstown. 

It is true, in those arts which are more ornamental 
than useful, such as fine statues and paintings, 
Ireland is sadly deficient. She cannot exhibit beauti- 
ful art museums such as the Louvre in Paris or the 
Vatican in Rome. She has been too much occupied 
for centuries defending her very existence from the 
tyranny of England to turn her attention to aesthetics. 
But even England with all the riches of her spoils has 
not very much to boast of in this respect. A short 
time ago a very enterprising firm, Selmar Hess & Co., 
of New York, published a sketch of over two hundred 
of the most famous men and women of history. In 
this learned work we find the biography of all the great 
artists of the world. Greece has her Phidias ; Italy her 
Leonardo, Bramante, Raphael and Michael Angelo; 
France her Millet, Meissonier and Gerome; Holland 
her Rembrandt and Germany her Albert Durer. All 
these were artists of world-wide reputation and de- 
serve to have a tablet in the hall of fame. It is of 
their names that we think whenever the word artist 
is mentioned. But where are England's artists skilled 
in statuary and painting? The only English artist 
who was considered at all worthy to have his name 
associated with these immortals was William Hogarth, 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON iii 

I feel quite certain that even his name was inserted 
by mistake; for the only two paintings which give him 
any claim to fame have the sublime title of: "The 
Harlot's Progress," and "The Rake's Progress." 
Shades of Raphael and Michael Angelol how can 
you endure to have this English dross classified with 
your own heavenly-inspired productions? 

It is true, nevertheless, that if you visit the British 
museum you will perceive a great many beautiful 
statues and paintings; but it must be remembered 
that these are not the original productions of English 
artists. On the contrary they are generally only a 
copy, and sometimes a very imperfect one^ of some 
great masterpiece executed by a French or Italian 
artist. The native English art is very inferior indeed. 

But notwithstanding every disadvantage^ the ar- 
tistic spirit has not departed, from the Celtic race. 
Many of our most famous modern American artists 
were of Irish extraction. 

Among our American sculptors, the late John 
Donaghue, born in Chicago, of Irish parents, was 
a man of rare talent, which unfortunate circumstan- 
ces barred from the full expression of which it was 
capable. The name of Shannon, one of the emi- 
nent American painters, now resident in England, 
attests his Irish ancestry. Mark Fisher, born in 
Boston, and long resident in London, is of Irish blood. 
Ruskin's tribute to the artistic character of the Irish 
temperament, was one of the heartiest of his late 
utterances. 



iia THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

The times now seem propitious for supplying the 
strange lack that gives Ireland the unique and un- 
enviable distinction of being the only civilized coun- 
try without a permanent collection of national and 
modern art. It is rightly felt that for the encour- 
agement of artistic development among the Irish 
people at home there is need of giving them the op- 
portunity to see and study good work. A miovement 
is therefore on foot, to form a permanent gallery of 
modern art in Dublin. The Royal Hibernian Acad- 
emy has brought together what is described as a 
remarkably fine and representative collection of mod- 
ern paintings, many of which have been presented as 
a nucleus for the proposed gallery. It is now pro- 
posed to purchase the celebrated collection of the 
late J. Staats Forbes, and Mr. Hugh P. Lane has 
promised to present a splendid collection of 33 fine 
paintings on the single condition that the corporation 
of Dublin shall make an annual grant to the new 
gallery, if established. Compliance with this con- 
dition is said already to be assured. Over a hundred 
artists and collectors have promised to present paint- 
ings; among them some very prominent American 
painters. John S. Sargent is one of these. The col- 
lection will be known as the Irish National Gallery 
of Modern Art. Subscriptions toward purchasing 
the immensely desirable Staats Forbes collection 
are sought from abroad. The price asked, $i50)00o, 
is regarded as extremely low. Here is a good op- 
portunity for true friends of Ireland to benefit the 
qpuntry in a ^ost practical way. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Celt and the Saxon in the Realms of 
Science. 

WHY should we continue our comparisons be- 
tween the Celts and the Saxons when the 
English themselves tacitly acknowledge that 
the Irish are the superior race? We have seen how 
England at one time positively forbade any commerce 
or manufactures on the part of Ireland. What is 
this but an implicit admission that the Irish were the 
better business men, to be dreaded as dangerous com- 
petitors ? Again, we have observed how in the penal 
days the English Parliament prohibited, under the 
severest penalty, any Irishman from educating his 
children at home or abroad. What is this, too, but an 
unwilling acknowledgment that the Irish were nat- 
urally the more intelligent race and that the English 
could compete with them successfully only when they 
were reduced to a state of ignorance? 

The penal laws of England accomplished their 
dastardly work, though not as thoroughly as their 
authors had hoped. Although many of our forefathers, 
despite every danger, kept the lamp of learning still 
burning brightly in their souls, yet the fine intellect 
of many others was obscured by lack of mental 



114 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

training on account of England's penal laws, be- 
cause, as the poet said: 

"Fair knowledge to their minds her ample page 
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll." 

It is quite true that during the last fifty years re- 
morse of conscience has caused John Bull to make 
some amends for his past misconduct by establishing 
the national schools all over Ireland. Since then it 
is unquestionable that there has been a great revival 
of learning among the Irish people, especially of 
the younger generation. Nevertheless, it cannot be 
denied that there still exists a lamentable want of 
culture among the children of Erin, because the 
clouds of ignorance that had been accumulating for 
centuries cannot be dispelled in an hour. 

Hence up to a very recent date it was quite fashion- 
able for English writers to marvel at the ignorance of 
the Irish and to declare that their illiteracy was 
beyond all comprehension. Some bigots have even 
asserted that the Irish were kept in ignorance by the 
Catholic Church for her own selfish purpose. So the 
poor Irishman was made the butt of every ancient 
English witticism, if indeed the Englishman possesses 
any wit, and the laughing-stock of every "smart" 
English comedian. If these English were not the 
most consummate hypocrites, they would frankly 
acknowledge that if the Irish are ignorant their lack 
of culture is the work of their own hands and those 
of their fathers. What a spectacle for angels and 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 115 

men, to prevent a noble race from receiving an educa- 
tion and then to reproach them for their ignorance! 

However, it was not always thus. More than 
fifteen centuries ago, when as the English historian, 
Guest, says: {GuesVs English History^ page 47) "The 
English hardly deserved a better name than sea- 
wolves and pirates," Ireland was already noted for 
her science and learning, her schools and her scholars. 
To be convinced of this all that is necessary is to read 
that learned book of the great Irish Bishop, Rt. Rev. 
J. Heaiy, entitled: "Ireland's Ancient Schools and 
Scholars." 

Our Irish forefathers were highly civilized even be- 
fore ever St. Patrick brought the light of Christianity 
to their shores. What was so rare at that time, they 
knew how to read and write, though we cannot say 
the same thing now after seven centuries of Anglo- 
Saxon enlightenment. At the present day we are 
accustomed to look upon Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and 
Cambridge Universities as very venerable because they 
were founded a few centuries ago; but it is a historical 
fact that the great Irish King, Cormack established 
a college at Tara, nearly seventeen centuries ago, about 
two hundred years before ever the Anglo-Saxons set 
foot in Britain. The course of study in that college 
included such subjects as history, poetry, military 
tactics, and jurisprudence. 

However, it was only after the introduction of 
Christianity that learning and science bloomed forth 
in Ireland like a beautiful lily in all its grandeur, and 



ii6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

for three centuries Ireland became known all over 
Europe as the ** Island of Saints and Scholars." This 
was no empty, high-sounding name; for as if by magic 
scores of celebrated schools or colleges sprung up all 
over the island. To narrate the merits of each of 
these great institutions of learning would be an endless 
task. In order not to weary the reader with details, 
we shall confine ourselves to the description of one 
of the most famous. As Virgil says: ^^Ex uno disce 
omnes.^' From a single one we may judge all. 

Perhaps the most celebrated of all the great Irish 
colleges was the renowned School of Armagh. It is 
supposed to have been founded by St. Patrick himself 
and seems to have been primarily a theological semi- 
nary. But soon it branched forth and developed into 
one of the most celebrated universities in Europe. 
One of its first presidents was St. Gildas surnamed 
the Wise on account of his great learning and so 
famous did the university become under his guidance 
that crowds of students flocked over from England 
to hear him. In fact so numerous did they become 
after a while that one particular part of the city had to 
be set apart for their accommodation, after the manner 
of the Latin Quarter in Paris at the present day. We 
are not required to accept this on the authority of an 
Irish historian, for we have it on the testimony of 
an English author, the Venerable Bede of the seventh 
century. How exceedingly grateful should not Eng- 
land be to Ireland for having thus instructed her youth 
at the great fountains of learning! Yet what base 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON ii'j 

ingratitude she displayed afterwards by making it a 
penal offence for an Irishman to educate his children 
at home or abroad! 

Not only was Ireland full of saints and scholars 
herself but she likewise sent forth a vast number of 
missionaries and eminent scientists to bestow upon 
other less-favored nations of Europe the blessings of 
Christianity and the light of civilization. At the 
present day our Scotch Highlanders, or as they are 
sometimes called, the Scotch-Irish may boast as they 
please, but they must admit that it was from the great 
Irish missionary, St. Columba, that they received the 
light of the Gospel and the first rudiments of civili- 
zation. No less remarkable was another great Irish 
missionar}', St. Columbanus, who brought the glad 
tidings of the true faith to the people of Switzerland. 

But probably still more famous was the celebrated 
Irish missionary, St. Virgilius, who preached the 
Gospel in Bavaria and afterwards became Archbishop 
of Salzburg, in the eighth century. Though a great 
theologian and a powerful preacher, he was still more 
renowned as a scientist. When we speak of science 
as it existed a thousand years ago, we must remember 
that it was not nearly as developed then as at the 
present day. The age of modern science had not 
yet begun to dawn. There was scarcely any such 
thing as science in the present sense of the word. 
Chemistry, Geology, and Biology, were then unknown; 
and even Astronomy was only in its cradle. Yet even 
at that remote period this Irish missionary, St. 



ii8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Virgilius, manifested a knowledge of science centuries 
in advance of his time; for he actually taught that 
the earth was a sphere, though during hundreds of 
years before and after him, even down to the time of 
Columbus, in the fifteenth century, it was the common 
belief of mankind that the earth was a flat surface, 
with the ocean surging round it. 

In the following century, history tells us of a still 
more expert scientist, by the name of Dungal. Strange 
to say, he was an Irish monk, and so great was his 
fame that even the Emperor Charlemagne himself 
wrote to him for an explanation of the two solar eclipses 
which are said to have occurred in the year 8io. The 
letter of Dungal in reply is still preserved in the Ar- 
chives of France ; it is written in excellent Latin, and 
it is very doubtful if even the most learned scientist 
of the present day could give a more lucid exposition 
of the cause of an eclipse than that given by this 
Irish monk, a thousand years ago. 

But the king of all the Irish scholars before the 
English conquest of Ireland was a man by the name 
of John Scotus Erigena. He was undoubtedly the 
most learned man in all Western Europe during the 
ninth century. So great was his learning that he 
was spoken of like Plato as the "Master" by excel- 
lence, and was considered as "a miracle of knowledge." 
He was certainly one of the greatest philosophers that 
the world has ever seen and his name will ever be 
ranked with those of Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. 
Thomas Aquinas. As the Dominicans have their 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 119 

champion in St. Thomas Aquinas, so the Franciscans 
follow the teaching of Scotus, and are called Scotists. 

So distinguished did Scotus become that the French 
King, Charles the Bald, invited him to his court, made 
him head of the royal academy in his own palace, and 
afterwards promoted him to be the Rector of the 
Royal School of Paris. It was there that he wrote the 
great work on Predestination which has made his 
name famous. It is true this book was once placed 
temporarily under the ban of the Church. However, 
it must be well understood that it was not in reality 
the teachings of Scotus that were condemned, but 
other doctrines attributed to him by his enemies, but 
which he never professed. 

Like many other good things which Ireland has 
produced both England and Scotland have claimed 
Scotus as their own. We should not be astonished 
at this, since they have lately laid claim even to St. 
Patrick himself. But anyone who has the least 
knowledge of the Irish tongue will see at a glance that 
the very surname of Scotus is sufficient evidence to 
prove that he was an Irishman, not an Englishman or 
a Scot. 

Since the English conquest of Erin, the island has 
not produced any more scientists or philosophers 
like Dungal, Virgilius or Scotus. A blight seemed 
immediately to fall on the mental development of 
the Irish; which is the greatest condemnation of Eng- 
lish misgovernment of Ireland. Nevertheless, a few 
geniuses like Thomas Moore, Henry Grattan, and 



I20 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Daniel O'Connell beamed forth from time to time 
like stars in the heavens. However, this was not due 
to Anglo-Saxon civilization, but in spite of it. Yet 
though England has now held her rival bound down 
in chains and slavery for seven hundred years, what 
has she to-day that can compare with Erin's glorious 
record in science and learning? 

As we have already observed, the first Anglo-Saxons 
who settled in Britain were a band of rude barbarians; 
and whatever knowledge or civilization they acquired, 
they received either from the missionaries of the 
Catholic Church, who went over to convert them, or 
else in the celebrated schools of Ireland. Even the 
famous English author, Alcuin, who was one of the 
most distinguished scholars of Europe during the 
eighth century, completed his education in Ireland, 
though his English biographer seems unwilling to 
give Erin credit for it; because in English history it 
is stated that he was educated in the famous English 
school of York. Fortunately, however, there still exists 
a letter wTitten by Alcuin from the Court of France 
to his former professor in Ireland, which shows clearly 
that he was once a student in the great Irish school 
of Clonmacnoise, near the modern city of Athlone, 
as we read in the "Ancient Schools and Scholars 
of Ireland," by Bishop Healy. 

For five hundred years after Alcuin, England did 
not produce a single scientist or philosopher worthy 
of the name, until the rise of Roger Bacon in the 
thirteenth century. To give him his due, he certainly 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 121 

was one of the most brilliant philosophers and 
scientists of his day, so that he received from his 
contemporaries the title of "Doctor Mirabilis." Yet, 
when our modern English writers talk so glibly of 
the middle ages, which they call the "Dark Ages"; 
when they declaim so eloquently about the ignorance 
of the monks of old; when they denounce the Catho- 
lic Church as the sworn enemy of science, they little 
dream that the great Roger Bacon himself was a Fran- 
ciscan monk who completed his studies, like many 
of his countrymen, at the Catholic University of Paris, 
where he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. 
His principal work was the ''Opus Majus,^' or great 
book in which he abandons entirely the old deductive 
system of philosophy and strives to inaugurate a new 
process of acquiring science by means of observation 
and experiment. He might have been successful if 
he had been more discreet; but his intemperate zeal 
in the cause of science prompted him to abuse scholas- 
ticism, the prevailing philosophy of that time, and to 
make the most violent attacks upon the clergy who 
would not accept his new scientific theories. Finally 
his language became so abusive that he was impris- 
oned by the members of his own order; but was soon 
released by order of the Pope himself. Nevertheless, 
instead of learning a lesson from past experience, he 
soon became more insubordinate than ever and was 
incarcerated the second time; though some modern 
historians make the ridiculous assertion that he was 
cast into prison because he so excelled in science the 



122 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

people of his time that he was regarded as a sorcerer. 
But it is very hard to see any grounds for regarding 
him as a magician. Some English writers of recent 
date claim that he was acquainted with the use of the 
telescope two centuries before its invention by Galileo 
and that he understood the principle of the locomotive 
hundreds of years before James Watt invented the 
steam engine. But these assertions are based rather 
on fancy or legend than on real authentic history. 
So the only rational ground for accusing Bacon of 
sorcery was that in spite of all his scientific knowledge 
some nonsensical speculation was mingled with it ; for, 
like most learned men of his time, he believed in 
astrology, that so-called science which regulates the 
destinies of men by the stars, and also the philoso- 
pher's stone, which was supposed to have the power 
of changing the baser metals into gold. 

Yet, notwithstanding all his mistakes, Roger Bacon 
did a great deal for science by calling the attention of 
men to the investigation of nature and to the ob- 
servance of natural phenomena. Three centuries 
later, a namesake of his, Francis Bacon, developed 
the principles laid down by Roger Bacon and upon 
them as a foundation built up an elaborate system of 
inductive philosophy which has prevailed to the pres- 
ent day. Hence Francis Bacon is called "the father 
of modem science," though it would seem far more 
just to bestow the title on the Franciscan friar, Roger 
Bacon, who sowed the seed, while Francis Bacon 
reaped the harvest. However, both made a great 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 123 

mistake in discountenancing entirely the old deduc- 
tive system of philosophy; for it is now universally 
recognized that in the acquisition of science deduc- 
tion and induction must go hand in hand. 

Long after the time of Francis Bacon it was almost 
universally accepted as a fact that almost all scientific 
progress of modern times was due to the scientific 
method which he perfected. Recently, however, a 
more moderate view has begun to prevail and it is now 
the general opinion of scientists that Francis Bacon 
as a philosopher has been considerably overrated. 
Yet it cannot be denied that it was his inductive 
system that led another great English scientist, Sir 
Isaac Newton, to discover the law of universal gravita- 
tion from the mere fall of an apple from the tree. 
On the same principle he ascertained the cause of the 
rotation of the earth on its axis, the rise and fall of 
the tides of the ocean, and the motion of all the 
planets in the heavens. This was undoubtedly one 
of the grandest of modern discoveries and crowned 
Newton as the greatest of all English scientists. Yet 
even Newton himself acknowledged that his law of 
gravitation is based on the discoveries of a great 
German scientist by the name of Kepler. 

But, since the time of Newton, a period of more than 
two hundred years, England has not produced a single 
scientist or philosopher worthy of the name. With 
the exception of Joseph Priestly, who discovered 
oxygen in 1776, and Dr. Jenner, who invented vacci- 
|iation as an antidofe against the terrible scourge of 



124 I'HE. CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

small-pox in 1796, not another Englishman has added 
one additional fact to the sum total of scientific 
truth. 

It is true, during the last two centuries England 
has given birth to a great many so-called scientists 
and philosophers, such as Hobbes, Locke, Hume, 
Spencer, Mill, Tyndall, Huxley, and Darwin ; but their 
writings are as entangled as an African jungle and the 
poor men seem to be continually groping their way 
in the dark. They all seemed to consider it a sign 
of superior intelligence to call in question all that 
their Christian ancestors had considered sacred for 
nineteen hundred years. 

Some like Hobbes and Spencer denied the existence 
of free-will; others like Hume were mere sceptics or 
doubters; and alleged that it was impossible to attain 
certainty of any kind; but the great majority like 
Huxley and Tyndall were not indeed downright athe- 
ists or infidels who denied the very existence of God, 
yet they declared that God was unknown and un- 
knowable. They did not deny that there might be 
some first great cause, some such wonderful being, 
whom men called God, but they candidly confessed 
that they did not know. Hence they were called 
Agnostics, or know-nothings — a very good name for 
them indeed — for Holy Scripture says that " Only the 
fool hath said in his heart there is no God." We also 
read in the Book of Wisdom that: "All men are vain 
in whom there is not the knowledge of God, and who 
by these things that are seen could not understand 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 125 

Him that is, neither by attending the works have ac- 
knowledged Who was the Workman." 

But the crowning folly of the nineteenth century 
was the theory of the English scientist Darwin, who 
set at naught the whole Biblical narration of the crea- 
tion and claimed that man, instead of being a noble 
creature made to the image and likeness of God, was 
actually a descendant of the ape. Even this absurd 
doctrine, so contrary to reason, and so opposed to the 
universal belief of all mankind for thousands of years, 
for a while found its adherents. But when men 
began to inquire for the "missing link" between man 
and the brute creation, the theory of evolution dashed 
itself against a rock and was shattered into a thousand 
fragments so that now only some poor benighted 
scholars still make profession of faith in it. 

Could anyone but an Englishman originate such 
an absurd doctrine as that ? If an Irishman were the 
author of it, he would be the laughing-stock of the 
world. But, thanks be to God! no Irishman was 
ever the inventor of such nonsense. In the realms 
of science therefore, we have reason to be proud of 
the glorious record of our race in comparison with 
that of the Anglo-Saxon. 



CHAPTER V. 

A Comparative Glance at Irish and English 
Literature 

THERE is no better test of the superiority of one 
nation or race over another than its preemi- 
nence in literary culture. As the great 
Dominican, Father Lacordaire, has well said: ''Every 
remarkable man has been fond of literature." The 
same may be said of every remarkable nation. But 
no nation either of ancient or modern times has a 
more glorious record in the field of literature than 
poor down-trodden Ireland. 

When we consider how often Ireland has been 
ravaged by fire and sword, first by the Danes and later 
by the English, could we be astonished if not a single 
trace of its literary productions had been left in the 
whole island? Yet at the present day there still re- 
main in the archives of Trinity College, Dublin, and 
of the Royal Irish Academy, a vast number of rare 
ancient Irish books and manuscripts, which are a 
most convincing proof of the literary culture of their 
authors. As the Irish national poet, Thomas Moore, 
said in the year 1839, when inspecting these precious 
documents: "These huge tomes could not have been 
written by fools or for any foolish purpose." 
Several of these antique, literary works were trans- 



fHk CELT ABOVn THE SAXON 127 

lated during the last century by the great Gaelic 
scholar, O 'Curry. It was indeed a task of no small 
labor and hardship; but what pained him most was 
to ascertain how many other invaluable Irish manu- 
scripts are lost forever. Their names alone remain 
to us preserved in the pages of those venerable books 
which are still extant. What a pity that more of our 
clever young Irishmen and Irish-Americans do not 
turn their attention to this noble work, in order to 
demonstrate to the modern world how lofty was the 
genius of our ancestors! What a shame that when 
the Catholics of America want at the present day a 
Gaelic professor for their university, they have to 
engage a Welshman or a German, to expound to 
them the sublime literature of their forefathers! Our 
Irish and Irish- American youth have been trained up 
to admire the beauties of Shakespeare, Milton, Homer, 
Virgil, Plato, Cicero, and Demosthenes; but what do 
they know about the literature of their own ancestors, 
which is far more sublime than the greatest master- 
pieces of English literature or the choicest classics 
of Greece and Rome? 

Nearly seventeen centuries ago, that is more than 
a thousand years before Columbus discovered Amer- 
ica, two hundred years before St. Patrick landed in 
Ireland, and likewise two centuries before England 
received its present name, Ireland was even then 
famous for her literary productions in prose and poetry. 
In this chapter we shall confine ourselves to her prose 



tag THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

writings, reserving her poetical compositions to the 
succeeding chapter. 

In the year 250 A. D., the great Irish King, Cor- 
mac, wrote a celebrated book called: "Instructions 
for Princes," which is preserved even to this day. It 
contains the last injunctions of the Irish monarch to 
his son, who was the heir to his throne; and the 
great Irish historian, Macgeoghegan, assures us that: 
"It contains as goodly precepts and moral documents 
as Cato or Aristotle did ever write." But that was 
not the only literary work composed by King Cormac. 
He wrote also a history of Ireland from the first settle- 
ment of the country down to his own time; but un- 
fortunately that has perished in the course of ages. 
Does not this prove that even in the third century 
of the Christian era there must have been a consider- 
able amount of literary culture in Celtic Ireland? 

Where were our English cousins at that time? 
They had not yet set foot in Britain, nor for two 
hundred years afterwards. They were still only rude 
barbarians inhabiting the forests at the mouth of the 
Elbe River, between Germany and Denmark, though 
making frequent excursions to plunder their neighbors, 
an art which they have never forgotten since, and a 
science in which they have always excelled. It was 
only in the fifth century of the present era that they 
landed in Britain and it took them two hundred years 
more to produce a single literary man worthy of the 
name. Their first great author was the Venerable 
Bede, who flourished \n the early part of the eighth 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON "" 129 

century, about five hundred years after the great Irish 
writer, King Cormac. Bede was certainly a very 
learned man and he bequeathed to posterity a great 
many excellent educational works; but his English 
biographers very seldom mention that he received all 
his education from an English monk who had studied 
in Rome. When our modern English authors revile 
the monks of old how little they imagine that to them 
they are indebted, for their first great literary author I 
Nevertheless, it is a great mistake to consider Bede 
the father of English literature, because he wrote 
all his works in Latin, which was the language taught 
him by his monastic masters. After him England 
did not give birth to a single literary author worth 
mentioning for about one hundred and fifty years, till 
the rise of King Alfred in the ninth century. Even he, 
though a very worthy man, hardly deserves to be 
called an author; because all that he accomplished 
in the field of literature was to translate into English 
some of the works of Bede and a few other great 
Latin writers. It was only in the fourteenth century 
that England begot her first real great English author, 
a man by the name of John Wickliffe, who has been 
styled the "Father of English Prose"; though his 
chief claim to that title is based on the allegation that 
he was the first to translate the whole Bible into 
English. 

In the meantime, Ireland had brought her own 
Celtic literature to a state of maturity even before Eng- 
lish literature had well begun. After the introduction 



130 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXoU 

of Christianity into the island, there grew up over the 
old Pagan literature as a foundation a new species of 
Christian literature, many specimens of which are 
still preserved in Trinity College and the Royal Irish 
Academy. Though many valuable books written by 
our Christian ancestors have perished, yet so many 
others still remain that it would be a tedious task 
merely to enumerate their names. However there are 
three worthy of special mention — the Book of Armagh, 
the Book of Leinster, and the Book of Kells. From 
these we may form a fair estimate of the early Christian 
literature of Ireland. 

The first is called the Book of Armagh, because, 
though it is at present in the custody of Trinity College, 
Dublin, it belonged originally to the Cathedral Church 
of Armagh, which was founded by St. Patrick in the 
fifth century. In its present form it has come down 
to us from the ninth century; but it is evidently much 
more ancient than that, for it was then transcribed 
from a far older document. We can judge of its 
antiquity from the fact that it contains the life of St. 
Patrick, the original of which was written in Latin 
by his own hand, though it bears many annotations 
in Irish, in the most ancient form of the language 
now to be found anywhere. Next comes an entire 
copy of the New Testament with all the Gospels and 
Epistles written in Latin, the language of the Church. 
But what is most remarkable, many of the Gospel 
headings are vn-itten in Greek characters. We can 
judge therefore, what was the literary culture of Irish 



Tl^E CMLT ABOV^E TilE $A)tdM- t^i 

scholars even at that early day, since they were versed 
not only in their own language but also in the classics 
of Greece and Rome. 

Next in importance after the Book of Armagh is the 
Book of Leinster, so-called because it was compiled 
in the twelfth century from early Irish documents by 
the Bishop of Kildare for the instruction of the young 
Irish Prince of Leinster, Dermott McMurrough, who 
afterwards betrayed his country. Its contents are of 
an exceedingly varied and interesting character — 
heroic tales and poems, genealogies, lives of the saints, 
and various tracts used in the Irish monastic schools, 
dealing with both sacred and profane learning. 

Probably more interesting than either of these is 
the Book of Kells; though it is nothing more or less 
than a copy of the New Testament written by the 
great Irish missionary, St. Columba, in the sixth 
century. He founded a monastery near the City of 
Kells in the County of Meath, and after his death the 
monks preserved as a precious heirloom the new 
testament which he bequeathed to them. Hence it 
is called the Books of Kells, though, like most other 
precious Irish documents, it has passed into the 
possession of Trinity College. 

What is most remarkable about this famous 
book is its elaborate ornamentation and brilliant 
coloring, which has made it the wonder of the world. 
Indeed no tourist traveling to Ireland from foreign 
land would consider his journey complete unless he 
saw with his own eyes the celebrated Book of Kells. 



t^2 TUB CELT AB0V& the SAXOM 

It is said that no description can give an adequate 
idea of it. It must be seen and studied to be 
appreciated. 

Yet what has been said of the ornamentation of 
the Book of Kells is equally true of all the other an- 
cient Irish manuscripts. Nobody carried thi 6" literary 
ornamentation to such a high degree of perfection as 
the ancient Irish monks; which certainly speaks 
volumes for their indefatigable industry and their in- 
com^parable artistic skill. A certain Welsh traveler 
by the name of Gerald Barry, who once went over to 
Ireland during the middle ages tells us how astonished 
he was on beholding the brilliantly-illumined Gospel 
books of the monastic schools of Kildare. All the 
skill of the monks and of their pupils was exerted to 
adorn the word of God in a manner befitting its sacred 
character. Hence, he speaks of one manuscript of 
the four gospels which was so exquisitely illuminated 
with various figures on every page that the people 
really believed it was the work of an angel. "And 
indeed," says this Welshman, "the symbolical figures 
of the Evangelists were so wrought in every variety of 
coloring, with such subtility and grace, and all the 
other drawings and figures were likewise so delicate 
and subtile, that one would really think it was the 
work of angelic hands and not of mere human skill." 

What has England that can compare with the Book 
of Armagh, the Book of Leinster and the famous 
Book of Kells? Nothing whatever. For over a 
hundred years after Wickliffe, the "father of English 



fiiE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON t^^ 

prose," she produced only a lot of literary pigmies, 
whose very names have either perished or can be 
found only in the pages of the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica. It is true that the introduction of the art of 
printing into England by Caxton in the fifteenth 
century stimulated the spread of literature; yet of 
the forty-five books which he published forty-two were 
only translations from the French or Latin. Not a 
solitary literary genius made his appearance in Eng- 
land until Thomas More, in 1516, wTote his famous 
" Utopia." Even that is not original; for it is modelled 
on Plato's Atlantis. Besides, it was first written in 
the Latin language, though afterwards translated 
into English. 

The reign of Queen Elizabeth is called the "golden 
age of English literature" yet what literary lights 
did it produce? Only Spencer and Shakespeare. 
The plays of Shakespeare are certainly masterpieces 
that have stood the test of time and are in our theatres 
even at the present day received with great applause. 
Nevertheless, the composition of comedies and trag- 
edies is not by any means the highest form of literary 
genius. Besides, it is now universally acknowledged 
that many of Shakespeare's dramas were not original. 
The plots and incidents of at least a dozen are taken 
from Italian authors. This is especially true of 
Othello and Romeo and Juliet which are founded on 
an Italian novel, though the gallant Englishman has 
failed to give the author credit for it. In the field of 
literature, as in every other field, the English have no 



134 fS& CMlT ABOVk THE SA)COM 

scruple in appropriating other people's property. 
They seem to think that the whole world belongs to 
them. How Shakespeare acquired his knowledge of 
Italian literature, as he never received much education 
in his youth, we can now only surmise. He may 
have learned the language from some Italians whom he 
afterwards met in London; but it is more likely that 
whatever knowledge of Italian literature he possessed 
he derived from the translations of Italian authors 
which, as we have seen, were published by Caxton 
after the introduction of the printing-press into 
England. Not only did Shakespeare draw the mate- 
rial of his dramas from Italian but also from Irish 
sources. This is evident from his ghost scene in 
Hamlet; for it is well-known that the belief in fairies 
is not a characteristic of the English but a striking 
peculiarity of the Irish people. In his poetical works 
too, Shakespeare was likewise greatly influenced by 
the Italian Poets, Tasso and Ariosto; but, as we are 
now concerned only with prose composition, we shall 
refer to that more extensively in the succeeding 
chapter. 

Nevertheless, even with all his assistance from 
foreign authors, Shakespeare's plays are a pitiful 
form of literature in comparison with the great Irish 
literary work that was published a few years after this, 
and is now widely quoted even by English authors. 
We refer to the famous history of Ireland called " The 
Annals of the Four Masters." It is called the Annals 
of the Four Masters, because the four men who Y^rote 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 135 

it were so celebrated for their learning and erudition. 
The editor-in-chief was a Franciscan lay-brother called 
Michael O'Clery, He was assisted by his brother, 
Conary O'Clery, his cousin. Peregrine O'Clery, and 
Ferfeasa O'Mulconry. Though eminent in anti- 
quarian lore, it took them four years to complete this 
great historical work and no wonder, for it comprises 
seven large quarto volumes. It is dedicated to a 
noble-hearted Irish chieftain called Ferral O'Gara, 
who was the patron of this great literary undertaking 
and paid all the expenses of the enterprise. Some 
years afterwards it was translated into English by 
Dr. John O 'Donovan and is now recognized as a 
standard authority on all Irish historical subjects; 
as all its data are taken from original sources. There 
is no masterpiece of history like this in native English 
literature. The nearest approach to it is Macaulay's 
"History of England"; but that is a work of only five 
volumes and extends over a period of only a couple 
of centuries; but the "Annals of the Four Masters" 
comprises the vast range of twenty-three hundred 
years, from 730 B. C. to 1616 A. D. 

This remarkable publication was the last great 
literary production of the Irish in their native tongue. 
Henceforth the Irish language gradually ceased to be 
the medium of literature and since the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth the Irish people have been compelled, we 
regret to say, to express their ideas in English, the 
language of their conquerors. Everyone knows how 
4ifficult it is to communicate one's thoughts in di, 



136 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

foreign tongue. We can readily realize, therefore, 
how difficult it must have been for our forefathers to 
compete with the English in their own native lan- 
guage. Yet those who are well versed in English 
literature and have studied English rhyme of the 
sixteenth century know without a doubt that what 
people call at the present time the "Irish Brogue" 
is in reality the correct pronunciation of English which 
prevailed three centuries ago. Since then the English 
themselves have altered their pronunciation; but the 
Irish have preserved it in its original purity. 

Moreover, the Irish have actually outstripped the 
English in their own language. They have added 
to English literature a certain warmth and animation, 
a certain richness of imagery, a certain power of 
imagination, and a wit and humor which the dull, 
cold, phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon has never possessed and 
can never hope to acquire. Some of the grandest 
masterpieces of English literature composed during 
the past three hundred years have been the work of 
Irishmen. 

As the reign of Queen Elizabeth has been called the 
golden age, so that of Queen Anne may be styled the 
diamond epoch of English literature. No similar 
period of English history can boast of so many brilliant 
literary geniuses, especially in prose composition, as 
flourished during that time. But of all that grand 
galaxy of intellectual lights the foremost prose writers 
were Addison, Steele, and Swift. In the history of 
English literature these three great luminaries are 



TJSE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 137 

represented as English authors, but the fact is that 
only one, Mr. Addison, was an Englishman; and the 
other two, though of English descent, were real native- 
born Irishmen. Not only were Steele and Swift Irish 
by birth, but they likewise received most of their 
early education in Ireland and their literature, though 
in the English language, is thoroughly Hibernian in 
its characteristics. Indeed it was their vigorous Celtic 
style that made their writings so famous and gave them 
such a high place in English literature. The candid 
truth is that the two Irishmen outstripped the Eng- 
lishman in his own native tongue. As an essayist, 
with perhaps the single exception of Lord Macaulay, 
no other author holds such a lofty station in the 
estimation of English readers as Joseph Addison. But, 
when the mists of national prejudice will have passed 
away, Steele and Swift will hold a higher place in 
literature than even the gifted Addison. 

In reality it was Steele that developed Addison into 
a literary author by inducing him to contribute articles 
to his newspapers, the Tatler, the Spectator, and the 
Guardian. Thus originated those charming essays 
of Addison which are read with so much pleasure and 
profit at the present day. 

Nevertheless, if we scrutinize closely these literary 
productions, we cannot fail observing that there is 
something essential lacking in each and every one of 
them. Critics judge literature by four marks — ex- 
cellence of matter, clearness, force, and polish. Three 
out of these four marks Addison's essays certajniy 



ijS TBE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOM 

possess. The subject matter is excellent, the thought 
is elevated, the style is clear and polished; but the 
fourth mark of literary genius, which is vigor of ex- 
pression, is sadly wanting. Hence all of Addison's 
writings are dolefully lacking in the great power of 
conviction; because of a certain dullness and cold- 
ness characteristic of almost all Anglo-Saxon authors. 

On the other hand, the great Irish author, Dean 
Swift, was remarkably vigorous in style but sometimes 
lacking in polish. While Addison's essays may be 
compared to a smooth, but deep, gently-flowing river 
steadily, though imperceptibly, winding its course to 
the sea, Swift's writings were like the waters of the 
mighty Mississippi, rushing along with irresistible 
onset to the boundless ocean. Swift was certainly 
the most powerful wTiter that flourished during the 
reign of Queen Anne. Even the highest politicians 
and the greatest lords in all England dreaded his 
mighty pen. Never before was so clearly demon- 
strated the old proverb that "The pen is mightier than 
the sword." His famous work called "Gulliver's 
Travels" was certainly a marvel of genius, such as 
even the gifted Addison himself in his palmiest days 
could never write. Hence it was said that " Jonathan 
Swift was the Goliath among English writers in the 
reign of Queen Anne; and there arose no David who 
could slay him." 

Nevertheless, according to the canons of eminent 
literary critics, another Irishman, Richard Steele, 
holds a still higher place in literature than his 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 139 

contemporary, the great Dean Swift ; for Steele's works 
bear in their integrity the four marks of literary genius. 
His writings had the polish of Addison, the vigor of 
Swift; and besides, a certain vivacity and charm 
peculiar to himself, that is simply inimitable. 

Though he was himself a rather dissolute character, 
yet no other one man did more than Steele to elevate 
the standard of English literature and uplift English 
society from the degraded condition to which it had 
fallen at the opening of the eighteenth century. At 
the accession of Queen Anne to the throne, the state 
of society in England was truly deplorable. The long 
wars of King William III. had produced their inevi- 
table result. Corruption and immorality existed on 
all sides, coarseness and ferocity of manners prevailed 
among all classes, high and low. Gambling was 
exceedingly prevalent, and drunkenness was univer- 
sally habitual. But intellectual pursuits were either 
unknown or confined to a few, and these few re- 
garded as pedants or humorists. Dr. Samuel Johnson, 
who was himself one of the great English prose 
writers of the eighteenth century, assures us that: 
"Then men were not ashamed of ignorance and 
among women any acquaintance with books was dis- 
tinguished only to be criticised." 

The first to combat the follies of that course age — 
the first one who manfully labored to raise up the 
English nation from its brutal ignorance and grovelling 
condition was the Irish Richard Steele. To accom- 
plish that result he established the Taller, a sort of 



I40 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

penny newspaper, whose object was to expose the 
false arts of life; to tear off the mask of English cun- 
ning, vanity, and ostentation; and to recommend 
simplicity in dress, discourse, and behavior. Before 
long there was observed a m^arked improvement in 
the manners of the people. , Instead of debasing 
pleasures and debauchery they began to practise 
honesty and sobriety; instead of cunning and hypoc- 
risy they manifested a genuine spirit of kindness 
towards their neighbor; and henceforth they seemed 
to have much loftier ideas of duty and honor. 

Steele next started the Spectator, which has become 
famous in British periodical literature. It is looked 
upon as an English classic; and Professor Morley 
tells us that: ''It was through the Tatler and the 
Spectator that the people of England learned to read." 
Yet how frequently have not English writers almost 
up to the present day referred to Steele's countrymen 
as: "The low, ignorant Irish!" 

But there is no department of prose literature in 
which the genius of the Irish so completely eclipses 
that of the Anglo-Saxon as in the field of oratory. 
Poor England has been very barren indeed in great 
oratprs. She can boast of several clever speakers 
such as Disraeli, Gladstone, and Chamberlain, but 
since the Saxons landed in Britain fifteen centuries 
ago she produced only one man who really deserves 
to be called an orator. That was the celebrated 
William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, and one of the 
seven great orators of the world. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 141 

On the other hand, Ireland has four great orators 
to England's one. Burke, Sheridan, Grattan, and 
O'Connell were masters of eloquence such as the 
English-speaking world had never heard before; and 
their names will live in histor}^ as long as the world 
exists. Edmond Burke was great not only as an 
orator but also as an essayist. His "Essay on the 
Sublime and Beautiful" stands in the front rank of 
English classics, and holds the same place in English 
prose that Shakespeare does in English verse. His 
''Reflections on the French Revolution," likewise, has 
been pronounced the masterpiece of masterpieces. 
However, it is his wonderful oratorical productions 
that have given him such a prominent place in the 
book of fame and rendered his name immortal. 

Burke's first great oratorical effort was in the im- 
peachment of Warren Hastings in the House of 
Commons. His speech, w^hich lasted for nine days, 
was a masterpiece of oratory surpassing the grandest 
flights of eloquence by Cicero or Demosthenes of old 
and its effect was perfectly indescribable. Ladies 
sobbed and screamed, stern men felt the tears trickling 
down their cheeks, and Warren Hastings himself 
afterwards asserted that then he thought his hour 
of doom had come. AVliat wonder that Lord 
Macaulay declared that Burke was ''the greatest 
master of eloquence, superior to every orator, ancient 
or modern!" 

Indeed, it is very difficult to say which of these four 
Irish orators was the greatest. They are like the 



142 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

pyramids of ancient Egypt, with their massive propor- 
tions and lofty stature, or like the pinnacles of a high 
mountain soaring aloft to the sky. Wlien we gaze 
at one we consider that the loftiest, but, on looking 
at another, we instantly change our mind. So it is 
when we compare Burke and Sheridan. The first 
great speech of Sheridan, too, was in the impeach- 
ment of Warren Hastings. It occupied more than 
five hours in the deliverv; and Burke himself declared 
it to be ''the most astonishing effort of eloquence, 
argument, and wit united of which there is any record 
or tradition." Even the great English orator Pitt 
himself acknowledged that "it surpassed all the elo- 
quence of ancient and modern times and possessed 
everything that genius or art could furnish to agitate 
or control the human mind." 

Not only was Sheridan a most eloquent orator, but 
also a very successful dramatic writer. His comedy 
called the ''School for Scandal" has been pronounced 
by the highest critics the best in the English language. 
It created such a favorable impression at the first 
performance that it was translated into German 
and won the greatest applause in the cities along the 
Rhine and Danube. He was likewise the author of 
an opera called the "Duenna" which was then the 
best of its kind on the stage; and, by a strange coin- 
cidence, these productions were winning wild applause 
in the theatres of London the very night that the 
gifted author himself was delivering in the British 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 143 

Parliament the most eloquent harangue ever delivered 
within its walls. 

Yet, notwithstanding all his talent, it is a mooted 
question whether Sheridan was superior to that other 
great Irish orator, Henry Grattan, who by the irre- 
sistible power of a single speech secured triumphantly 
the independence of the Irish Parliament and the 
Irish nation. His biographer assures us that it "was 
the most splendid piece of eloquence that had ever 
been heard in Ireland and it vies with the greatest 
efforts that had ever been made in the English House 
of Commons." An eye-witness who had heard that 
famous speech tells us the impression that it produced 
upon him. " It seemed," he says, "as if I were smitten 
through heart and brain with such a power of speech 
as was never heard before except from the great 
Demosthenes." 

At the conclusion of that marvellous oration men 
shook hands with one another in an ecstasy of delight, 
threw up their caps high into the air, and thundered 
forth such cheers and applause as shook the very 
walls of Dublin Castle to its foundation. Dreading 
the effect on the public mind^ the English Government 
ignominiously surrendered and granted an independ- 
ent Parliament to Ireland. 

What wonder, therefore, that the famous Irish poet, 
Thomas Davis, says: "The speeches of Grattan are 
the finest specimens of imaginative eloquence in the 
English or in any language. His force and vehemence 
are amazing — far beyond Chatham, far beyond Fox, 



144 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

far beyond any^^orator we can recall!" Even the 
great English poet, Lord Byron, said that Grattan 
was — 

"With all that Demosthenes wanted endowed 
And his rival or master in all he possessed." 

Nevertheless, taking everything into consideration, 
we must conclude that the king of all Irish orators was 
the great Irish emancipator, Daniel O'Connell. In 
many respects he towered far above all the other Irish 
leaders before and since his time. In striking con- 
trast with the physical infirmity of Grattan, O'Connell 
was a man of herculean frame and commanding 
presence; the light of genius was in his eyes; and he 
had a voice of immense power, sweetness, and variety 
of tone. Even the English Premier, Disraeli declared 
that he never heard any voice that could compare 
with the thrilling tones of O'Connell." Endowed, 
moreover, with an extraordinary intellect, he seemed 
destined by nature to be a born-orator and a born 
leader of men. It was only a man of such marvellous 
powers that could win for his people from a tyran- 
nical English Government the precious boon of 
Emancipation. 

What wonder that his grateful countrymen style 
him the "Liberator," the "Father of his Country," 
and the "Uncrowned King of Ireland!" What won- 
der that the great Irish Dominican preacher, Father 
Burke, gave him the appellation of "Ireland's greatest 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 145 

son!" What wonder that he is recognized in history 
as one of the seven greatest orators that the world has 
ever seen! What has England to compare with the 
matchless genius of Daniel O'Connell? ^ 

There is only one department of literature in which 
the English surpass the Irish. That is in the province 
of fiction. The English authors, Dickens and 
Thackery, are still the kings of modern novelists. 
Why the Irish have not been as successful in fiction 
as in other departments of literature it is difficult to 
determine, unless the reason is that fiction means 
falsehood, and the Irish love the truth too well to 
invent a falsehood even for the sake of afterwards 
drawing a moral from it. 

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that 
" Gulliver's Travels," which was written by the Irish- 
man, Dean Swift, was the forerunner of our modern 
novel. It must be admitted, too, that to another 
Irishman, Oliver Goldsmith, belongs the great merit 
of purifying the novel and raising it above the sensual 
and obscene. He was also the author of "The Vicar 
of Wakefield," one of the very best novels in the Eng- 
lish language. But the greatest of all the Irish 
novelists was Gerald Griffin, the author of "The 
Collegians," and "The Rivals," which are master- 
pieces in the field of fiction and hold the very first rank 
among novels even to the present day. 

In more recent times, likewise, our Irish and Irish- 
American writers have produced some very creditable 
novels. "When We Were Boys," composed by 



146 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

William O'Brien, M. P., would be indeed an excellent 
description of Irish life thirty years ago, did it not 
contain a certain absurd and inexplicable hostility to 
the clergy of Ireland, who are stigmatized unjustly as 
the opponents of every national movement for the 
freedom of their native land. Yet it is a historical 
fact that it was an Irish priest. Father Murphy, who 
led on his countrymen against the veteran troops of 
England at the Battle of Vinegar Hill, in 1798; and 
the Irish priests have always seconded every Irish 
organization in which they could see any hope of 
Irish independence; though of course they, like good 
shepherds, sometimes warned their flocks against cer- 
tain ill-planned and ill-advised attempts at insurrec- 
tion which they foresaw only too clearly would end 
in disaster. 

Another great Irish author who has lately won re- 
nown as a novelist, is the well-known Irish priest, 
Father Sheehan. His beautiful novel, "My New 
Curate," is certainly a gem that has already secured 
a very high place in literature and will always be read 
with pleasure not only by the clergy but also by the 
laity. But probably no Catholic novel that has ever 
been written surpasses "Lalor's Maples," which has 
recently been written by that talented lady who is the 
Assistant Editor of the Boston Pilot, Miss Katherine 
Conway. It was certainly a much-needed book and 
ought to do an untold amount of good among Irish- 
American Catholics. 

Nevertheless, when we compare the novels of Irish 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 147 

and English authors, we see at a glance that fiction is 
not at all the proper sphere of the Celtic race. The 
principal part of a novel consists in weaving a clever 
plot; but at that the Irish have never been very success- 
ful. They are too honest and straightforward to plot. 
That is why the novel of an Irish author is as tame as 
a Sunday-School story in comparison with the thrilling 
plot of an English novelist. It requires an Anglo- 
Saxon to invent a plausible story or to concoct a skilful 
plot. At that our English cousins are perfectly at 
home. This explains why they are clever novelists, 
and we envy them not the glory. 



CHAPTER VI. 
Celtic and Saxon Music and Poetry. 

IN all the vast realms of science and art there is no 
more beautiful accomplishment than proficiency 
in music and poetry. There is no better test 
of true genius, no surer mark of a lofty state of civiliza- 
tion. 

The Irish have always been an exceedingly musical 
people. The Celtic harp is the most ancient form of 
musical instrument now in existence; and we can 
judge of its perfection from the fact that after the 
lapse of centuries it still survives to the present day, 
just like 

''The harp that once through Tara's Halls 
The soul of music shed." 

How strange that oar English cousins have no musical 
instrument that has been handed down to them by 
their ancestors! Is not this a clear indication that 
the musical talent of the early Anglo-Saxons was far 
inferior to that of our Irish forefathers? 

It is true, indeed, that neither Ireland nor England 
can boast of any great musical composers like those 
of Germany, Italy, or Austria. Germany has her 
Beethoven, Wagner, and Mendelssohn; Italy her 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 149 

Verdi and Paganini; Austria her Mozart and H^ydn. 
These are the names of the immortal geniuses that we 
naturally think of when we speak of musical com- 
posers; and we seek in vain for their compeers in the 
British Isles. Poor Ireland has some excuse for not 
producing musical geniuses like these; for what in- 
spiration did Erin have to expand her musical soul 
during the last seven centuries of English tyranny 
and oppression? As the Hebrew^ exiles hung their 
harps on the willows of Babylon, saying: "We cannot 
sing in a strange land," so the children of Erin could 
not be expected to produce grand soul-stirring musical 
compositions in chains and slavery. But England 
has no such excuse; and yet she has never given birth 
to a musical composer who has acquired even a 
national, not to speak at all of a world-wide 
reputation. 

However, in the field of poetry neither England nor 
any other country in the world surpasses Ireland. 
As the late lamented Abbe Hogan, President of our 
Boston Ecclesiastical Seminary, was accustomed to 
say: ''Every Irishman is a poet; for he has that lofty 
flight of the imagination which constitutes the first 
essential of the true poet." Indeed, history confirms 
this ; for in no other country on the face of the earth 
was the art of poetry so cultivated as in ancient 
Ireland. There alone it was reduced to a science 
and looked upon as one of the learned professions. 

Who has not heard of the ancient bards or poets 
of Ireland ? Whole volumes have been written about 



150 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

them. Their poetical compositions were not like the 
hap-hazard doggerels written by certain individuals 
of the present day, who imagine that they are poets. 
The bards had to study the art of poetry for twelve 
long years before they were permitted to afflict the 
public with their poetic strains. 

What wonder that there were great poets in Ireland 
in these days! In spite of all the ravages of the Danes 
and the English, certain very ancient specimens of 
their poetry have come down to us through the mists 
of ages and give us some idea of the poetic fire which 
burned in the hearts of our ancestors twenty-three 
centuries ago. We may talk of the beauties of the 
great Greek and Latin poets — Homer, Euripides, 
Virgil, and Horace; but how many Irish or Irish- 
Americans ever heard of the great Homer of Ireland? 
His very name will sound strange and unfamiliar 
to them. 

The greatest of all of Ireland's ancient poets was 
the celebrated Ossian who flourished about the third 
century of the Christian era, nearly two hundred years 
before St. Patrick landed in Ireland. A few frag- 
ments of his poems are still preserved in Trinity 
College, Dublin; but even these are sufficient to put 
him on a par with the author of the Iliad and the 
Odyssey; for in point of grandeur and flowers of 
rhetoric they excel almost everything that has come 
down to us from these early ages. Like the English 
poet, Milton, this great Irish bard became blind in his 
old age; and in the following beautiful apostrophe to 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 151 

the sun sadly laments his loss of sight. Though the 
translation is but a faint echo of the original, it will 
give us some idea of his poetic genius: 

*'Oh, thou that revolvest above, circular as the 
shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams Oh, 
sun, thou everlasting light? Thou comest forth in 
thine awful beauty and the stars hide themselves in 
the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western 
wave, but thou, thyself, movest alone. Who can be 
the companion of thy course ? The oaks of the moun- 
tains fall, the mountains themselves decay with years, 
the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon itself is 
lost in heavoi ; but thou art forever the same, rejoicing 
in the brightness of thy course. When the world is 
dark with tempest, when thunder rolls and lightning 
flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds and 
laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest 
in vain — for he beholds thy beams no more — whether 
thy yellow hairs flow on the eastern clouds, or thou 
tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art, per- 
haps, like me for a season, and thy years will have an 
end. Thou shalt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the 
voice of the morning. Exult then, O Sun, in the 
strength of thy youth. Age is dark and unlovely. It 
is like the glimmering of the moon when it shines 
through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; 
the blast of the north is on the plain; the traveler 
sinks in the midst of his journey." 

What has England to compare with this great 
ancient Irish bard? Absolutely nothing. The 



152 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Encyclopaedia Britannica sadly informs us that before 
the introduction of Christianity, ''literature either had 
no existence or was in a state not less elementary, con- 
sisting of a few songs and oracles and nothing more." 

It is indeed a great relief to turn from the barren 
Anglo-Saxon desert to the rich and fertile fields of 
Irish poetry. Not only has Ireland had her Homer 
but her Virgil also. Just before the conversion of 
Erin by St. Patrick, a certain enterprising Irishman 
by the name of Shiel traveled to Italy to study philos- 
ophy and poetry. There his name was latinized into 
Sedulius and he afterwards became such a celebrated 
poet that he is called to this day the Christian Virgil; 
because he modeled his poetry on the heroic metre 
of that great Latin poet. His principal work was the 
Carmen Paschale, which is a sort of poetical version 
of the Old and New Testament, written in all the 
grace and elegance of diction of which only Virgil 
himself was thought capable. 

There is only one thing to be regretted, it is that 
Sedulius did not write his poetic works in his native 
Irish tongue instead of Latin. However, perhaps it 
may be all the better in the end, for it is this which has 
made the name of Sedulius immortal, because the 
Catholic Church has incorporated a part of his poetical 
writings in her liturgy, so that his fame will live as 
long as the Church will last ; and that is forever. The 
Latin hymn "Crudelis HerodeslDeum," which we sing 
at Vespers on the great" feast of the Epiphany is taken 
from the poems of Sedulius; so likewise the Intro it 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 153 

of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin — ^^ Salve Sanda 
Parens.^^ 

Yet it was the great Saint Patrick himself that 
transformed the whole system of ancient Irish poetry 
and changed it from a pagan into a Christian institu- 
tion. Before the coming of our national apostle the 
office of the Irish bard was to sing the praises of his 
ancestors and to chant the heroic deeds of Irish chief- 
tains on the field of battle. St. Patrick, however, was 
no meddlesom_e or revolutionary reformer. Whatever 
was good in Irish civilization he retained and con- 
secrated to the service of God; so he allowed the 
Bards to retain their harps and sing the songs of Erin's 
heroic youth as in the days of old. But the great 
Saint taught them to tune their harps to loftier strains 
than those of the royal banquet-hall or the battle-field. 
He sought to banish from their songs the pagan spirit 
of undying hate and rancorous vengeance, to impress 
the poet's mind with something of the divine spirit 
of Christian charity, and to soften the fierce melody 
of his war-songs with cadences of pity for a fallen foe. 
He taught the sons of the Bards how to chant the 
psalms of David and to sing together the sweet music 
of the Church's hymns. 

St. Patrick was quick to see how passionately fond 
of music our ancestors were. Hence, like a wise 
apostle, he prudently employed the grand musical 
strains of the Church to attract converts to the true 
faith. Wherever he established a church he made 
provision to have some of the congregation trained 



154 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

in psalmody. Accordingly in the biography of our 
national saint we read that "his choir-master was 
Benignus, whose duty it was to organize the choir and 
conduct the musical service." 

Instead, therefore, of hampering the talents of our 
forefathers and checking their progress, Christianity 
rather ennobled all their powers and developed them 
to their fullest extent. Accordingly, soon after the 
tim.e of St. Patrick, Erin gave birth to a m_ost rem.ark- 
able man who was one of the best specimens of the 
scholar, the saint, and the poet that the world has ever 
seen. 

This was the great Irish missionary, St. Columba, 
or Columbkille, who was born in the county of Donegal 
on December 7, A. D. 521. This celebrated man 
wrote verses not only in his own native tongue but 
also in the Latin language. Thirty-six of his Gaelic 
poems are still preserved in Oxford University and 
they are certainly masterpieces. To be fully appre- 
ciated they must be read in the original; they lose all 
their beauty when tr'anslated into the cold Anglo- 
Saxon tongue. The great French writer, Montalem- 
bert tells us that after St. Columbkille, Ireland pro- 
duced two hundred other celebrated poets whose 
works have long since perished; but we must now once 
more turn our attention to England and see what 
poetical works she produced after her conversion to 
Christianity. 

England was converted to the Catholic faith in the 
year 597 A. D. Thus she received all that was grand, 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 155 

noble, and sublime; everything in brief which would 
cause a generous heart to burst forth in poetic strains 
of gratitude to God for all His inestimable blessings. 
But it seems that the mustard seed of Christianity, 
brought into England, fell upon very barren soil; for 
it took her over a hundred years to produce even a 
single Christian poet. The first English Christian 
poet was a man called Caedmon who is supposed to 
have lived during the seventh century. His poetical 
works consisted of a mere paraphrase of the Pente- 
teuch and the New Testament. Another early Eng- 
lish poet was Cynewulf who composed a poem called 
Crist, narrating the blessings and benefits of Christian- 
ity. Some authors claim that he lived during the 
eighth, others in the eleventh century; but it does not 
matter much, as the names of both poets have long 
since sunk into oblivion. 

The real father of English poetry was not born 
for nearly eight centuries after the conversion of 
England to the Christian religion. This was the 
famous Geoffrey Chaucer, who was born in London 
in the fourteenth century. Until his time English 
was looked upon as a rough and barbarous dialect; 
but by imitating the literary masterpieces of Italian 
and French authors, such as Dante, Petrarch, 
Boccaccio, and Lorris, he so polished his native tongue 
that it was henceforth considered one of the refined 
languages of Europe. His chief poetic work which has 
survived to the present day is entitled ''The Canter- 
bury Tales"; but, like a true Englishman, he never 



156 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

gives any credit to the authors from whom he borrowed 
much of his literary material and style. 

After the death of Chaucer not another English 
poet of any consequence appeared for over two hun- 
dred yearSj until the rise of Shakespeare in the six- 
teenth century. He is called England's national poet 
and is lauded as one of the three greatest poets the 
world has ever seen, on a par with Homer and Virgil; 
but his title to that dignity rests certainly on very 
dubious credentials. He had no great reputation as 
a poet in his own day; nor did his poetic works excite 
much admiration. Even a century later, during the 
reign of Queen Anne, Shakespeare's poems were en- 
tirely ignored and Pope was considered England's 
national poet. 

However, the fact that Pope was a Catholic was a 
most serious obstacle to his permanent retention of 
that honor. The English nation that would not 
tolerate even a Catholic king on the throne was not 
likely to retain very long a Catholic as her national 
poet. Accordingly, poor Pope was soon deposed 
from his lofty pedestal and during the last century 
a great wave of enthusiasm has swept over England 
in favor of Shakespeare, so that he has become a much 
overrated poet. He has bequeathed to us only seven 
short poems of questionable merit. Only two of 
them, "The Rape of Lucrece" and "Venus and 
Adonis" are ever referred to as exhibiting any poetic 
genius above the ordinary. But even they are far from 
the sublime, for while the melody is certainly beauti- 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 157 

ful the poems themselves are very sensuous. Worse, 
still, all of Shakespeare's poetic works are lacking in 
originality; for his warmest admirers are obliged to 
acknowledge that he borrowed much from the Italian 
poets, Tasso and Ariosto. 

Instead of being called England's national poet, he 
should rather be styled her national playwright. His 
plays are five times more numerous than his poems. 
In a book edited by William Clark containing all of 
Shakespeare's works, a thousand pages are devoted 
to his plays and only fifty-four to his poetry. In 
reality, it is Shakespeare's plays and not his poems 
that have made his name so famous. It is true there 
is a great deal of latent poetry in his comedies and 
tragedies; but the real secret of his popularity with 
the English people and their descendants lies in his 
glorification of the English nation in all his dramas 
from ''King Henry IV." to ''King Henry VIII." A 
little flattery exercises great influence not only over 
individuals but even nations; and nobody knew the 
art better than Shakespeare; but when another English 
poet will arise who is more adroit at adulation, then 
the tide of popular favor will recede from poor Shake- 
speare, and he will be left stranded high and dry upon 
the rocks. In future ages, when the mists of national 
prejudice will have melted away, he may not be 
recognized as even a first-class poet, having sunk 
back into the obscurity which enveloped him in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
There were several other English poets as great and 



158 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

perhaps greater than Shakespeare ever was. Though 
Milton usually wrote in blank verse and borrowed 
much from Dante his "Paradise Lost" is far more 
majestic and sublime than anything Shakespeare 
ever composed. So likewise there is nothing in all 
Shakespeare's writings that can compare with Byron's 
magnificent poem, "Childe Harold," or Tennyson's 
sublime production, "The Holy Grail." But for 
loftiness of thought and exquisite beauty the very best 
poem of Shakespeare becomes mere dross in com- 
parison with Wordsworth's noble "Ode on the Inti- 
mations of Immorality," which some people believe 
to be inspired like Holy Scripture itself. 

With such a gallant array of English poets we should 
im_agine that poor, oppressed Ireland would have 
nothing to compare. Her last great poet who sang 
in his native tongue was St. Columbkille, who died 
just at the dawn of the seventh century. Soon after- 
wards, during the eighth century the Danes began to 
make their plundering incursions into Ireland and 
then the Irish poet had to cast aside his harp to fight 
the battles of his country. 

"The minstrel boy to the war has gone, 
In the ranks of death you'll find him." 

Scarcely had Erin recovered from the depredations 
of the Danes when she was compelled to defend her 
very life against another enemy, the Anglo-Saxons 
and the Normans. After a gallant struggle of five 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 159 

hundred years, she was finally overpowered by brute 
force and reduced to a state of slavery. In such cir- 
cumstances who could expect her to pay much atten- 
tion to poetry and the fine arts? 

"Thy songs were made for the brave and free 
They shall never sound in slavery." 

Not only did Ireland lose her independence but 
even her native tongue; and she was compelled hence- 
forth to express her thoughts in the language of her 
conquerors. When we consider how extremely diffi- 
cult it is to master a strange tongue, and especially 
one wl^ich we have good reason to dislike, who would 
imagine that generous, warm-hearted Erin would ever 
burst forth into song in cold, chilly Anglo-Saxon? 

Yet, wonderful to say, such is the marvellous versa- 
tility of the Irish that they have actually conquered 
their conquerors in their own chosen field, not only 
of English prose but of English poetry also; for the 
very grandest poems in the English language have 
been composed by Irishmen. Ireland has given 
birth to four great writers of English poetry who 
far surpass any native-born English poet that ever 
lived. What has England to compare with Oliver 
Goldsmith, Gerald Griffin, Thomas Davis and 
Thomas Moore? 

One of the dearest and brightest names in English 
literature is Oliver Goldsmith, who was born in the 
County of Longford, in the year 1728, As an author 



i6o THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

he stands in the very first rank of English poets. 
But of all his poetic gems the finest, most polished and 
most precious is ''The Deserted Village." For 
tender pathos, simple, charming, life-like description, 
exquisite harmony, and matchless beauty of expression, 
it is a poem perhaps unequalled in the whole range 
of literature. It will last as long as the English 
language exists and the name of its author will be 
forever immortal. As Doctor Johnson said of him 
in his epitaph: "He left scarcely any style of writing 
untouched and he touched nothing that he did not 
adorn." 

Almost equally famous as a poet was Gerald Griffin, 
who was born in the city of Limerick on December 
12, 1803. His poetry glows with all the fire and 
feeling of youth and is noted for its pure beauty, 
freshness and originality. His poems entitled "The 
Queen of May" and "The Sister of Charity" are 
among the very finest productions in the English 
language. 

But a name dearer to the Irish heart than either 
of these is that of Thomas Davis, the great Irish 
patriot poet who was born in Cork, in 1 814. By his 
thrilling patriotic songs he is said to have contributed 
almost as much to bring about Catholic Emancipation 
as the great Daniel O'Connell himself. It was his 
soul-stirring poetry that created, inspired, and moulded 
the great national movement which rallied all the 
people around the great liberator of our countrymen 
and made him simply irresistible. Hence the poems 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON i6i 

of Davis will be read and admired as long as there is 
a man of the Irish race alive. They were the expres- 
sion of his own manly nature, warm heart, and lofty 
character. They came from the heart and found 
their way to the heart; for they have the true ring 
which finds an echo in every soul that can admire the 
brave and the beautiful. What Irish heart does not 
throb in unison with his immortal verses: *'She is a 
rich and rare land," *^A nation once again,*' "The 
Green above the Red," and "On Fontenoy," which 
is recited by every school-boy, wherever the English 
tongue is spoken? 

Yet, Ireland has another poet even greater than 
Davis, the immortal Thomas Moore, who was born 
in Dublin, on May 28, 1779. He has been deservedly 
styled "the national poet of Ireland," "the poet of 
all circles," and the ''sweet son of song;" for it is safe 
to say that no other country on the face of the earth 
ever produced a greater poet than Thomas Moore; 
and England's most eminent poets are only second 
class in comparison with him. This is the opinion 
not only of Irishmen but even of impartial English- 
men and Scotchmen. An English writer by the 
name of Shaw declares that: "In the quality of a 
national Irish lyrist, Moore stands absolutely alone 
and unapproachable," and Professor Wilson of Scot- 
land says: "Of all the song-writers that ever war- 
bled, or chanted, or sung, the best is verily none 
other than Thomas Moore." 

Moore's "Irish Melodies" are the grandest poetical 



1 62 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

productions that have ever been composed in any 
language. That man must indeed be a soulless clod 
of earth who can read them or hear them sung without 
feeling himself aroused to admiration. The words 
are exquisitely beautiful, the calm sweetness of the 
melody touches the very depths of the soul, and when 
played the music strikes the ear as something almost 
celestial; so that the listener may imagine himself 
transported amidst the choirs of angels in Paradise. 

The poems of Pope, who was really England's 
greatest poet and was once recognized as such, are 
only rhymed eloquence and logic but Moore's mel- 
odies are the genuine poetry. As our late Irish- 
American poet, John Boyle O'Reilly, has v/ell said: 

"He may use deduction who must preach; 
He may praise instruction who must teach; 
But the poet duly does his part; 
When the song flows truly from his heart." 

It is thus that poetry flowed from the heart of Thomas 
Moore like the sweet notes of the nightingale. 

Well, therefore, may we be proud of the glorious 
record of our race in war and peace, in art, science, 
literature, music and poetry. Yet a few years ago 
certain weak-kneed Irish and Irish-Americans were 
actually ashamed of their Celtic origin and language. 
This was during the dark days of civil dissensions 
within the Irish Parliamentary party. But since 
then there has been a great improvement and a grand 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 163 

revival of the ancient Irish tongue. Now the Gaelic 
language is taught not only in the national schools of 
Ireland but even in Harvard College and the Catholic 
University of America. 

This is certainly a most gratifying movement in 
the right direction. Yet I am not one of those who 
advocate the complete elimination of English from 
the course of study of our Irish youth and the substi- 
tution of Irish in its place. In the present state of 
affairs such a step would be neither wise nor practical. 
To abolish the study of English now would be to 
throw away the key to the matchless poems of Oliver 
Goldsmith, Gerald Griffin, Thomas Davis, and 
Thomas Moore. Why should we do anything as 
foolish as that? Besides, we know how useful Eng- 
lish is at the present day as a means of communication 
in the business world. Why then should not the Irish 
take advantage of the opportunity it affords them in 
the field Of trade and commerce? But, above all, 
I really believe that God has destined the Irish for 
the great work of keeping the light of faith burning 
brightly everywhere throughout the English-speaking 
world. Hence to neglect the study of English would 
be to prove unfaithful to this grand vocation. 

Let us therefore train up the rising generation to 
love and cherish the noble language of their fore- 
fathers; but at the same time let them not neglect the 
English tongue which has been hallowed and enno- 
bled by the immortal Thomas Moore. Thus they 
will become bilinguists like the Germans and the 



i64 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

French, who settle in the United States and teach 
their children not only the language of the country 
but also the language of their fathers. It would also 
be an excellent undertaking for Irishmen everywhere 
throughout the world to establish Irish Reading 
Circles, Historical Societies, and Archaeological 
Associations, in order to preserve as an inestimable 
treasure the glorious literature that has come down 
to us from our ancestors and to hand it down to 
posterity as a precious heirloom. 



PJRT III. 



CHAPTER I. 

General Characteristics of the Celt and the 

Saxon. 

HAVING compared the Celt and the Anglo- 
Saxon in war and peace, we must now en- 
deavor to draw a comparative sketch of Irish 
and English character. After all, it is not so much 
the achievements of a nation in war and peace as the 
lofty character of its citizens that determines its 
superiority. That is the real test. 

Though all men are descended from a common 
father and mother, Adam and Eve, yet, in the course 
of ages, all the various nations of the world have 
developed certain characteristics peculiar to them- 
selves. But, though the English and the Irish have 
for so many centuries lived so closely together, it 
would be almost impossible to find two other races 
that differ so widely in character. 

It seems very difficult indeed for an Irishman and 
an Englishman to understand each other and for one 
to do justice to the character of the other; yet even the 
most impartial observers can see at a glance that there 
is in the Irish character something far more grand, 
noble, and elevated than in that of the Anglo-Saxon. 
Though their enemies frequently depict them as a 
low, ignorant, intemperate, and envious race, yet even 



i6S THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

impartial Englishmen themselves acknowledge that 
the Irish are the brightest, the wittiest, the most 
generous, the most warm.-hearted, the most moral, 
and the most m_agnanimous people on the face of the 
earth. 

The first striking characteristic which an English- 
man usually observes in an Irishm_an is his bright 
Celtic wit; and yet the average Englishman has only 
a very poor idea of what real genuine Irish wit is. 
He would reduce the Irish wit to the level of the jester 
or clown, with his fool's cap and bells, whose business 
it was to am-use kings and nobles during the middle 
ages by his ludicrous and absurd remarks. Such is 
the Irishman as he is usually presented on the English 
stage and sometimes on the American in imitation of 
the English. His wit never rises beyond that ridicu- 
lous creation of the English imagination which is 
usually called an "Irish Bull," generally something 
exceedingly foolish and nonsensical. But real genuine 
Irish wit is something far more clever and intelligent 
than this fantastical Anglo-Saxon burlesque; and it 
is high time that this travesty upon our race should be 
hissed from the stage. 

No doubt it must be very difficult for an English- 
man to get a true conception of Irish wit, for the Eng- 
lish are universally recognized as a dull, cold, cal- 
culating, and unscrupulous race, whose only aim in 
life is to seize upon their neighbor's property and 
thus amass riches. Though it cannot be denied that 
the Irish are a somewhat proud, sensitive, impulsive, 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 169 

and improvident race, yet with all their faults, who 
would exchange his Irish character for that of an 
Englishman ? 

How can we explain these divergent characteristics 
of the two races ? It is a nation's history that furnishes 
us with a key to its national character. Just as a 
man's daily actions, whether good or bad, make a 
corresponding impression on his character, so very 
frequently certain events in the history of a nation 
stamp upon it that indelible national character which 
distinguishes it from all other nations. Without a 
knowledge of these historical events the character of 
the people in the nation would be perfectly unin- 
telligible. So it is with the character of the Irish and 
the English. 

Nothing is so apt to ennoble the character of a race 
as a constant striving after some great and lofty 
principle. It is thus that the character of the Irish, 
naturally good, has been rendered still more noble 
by two great animating principles, the one religious, 
the other national in its aim. As we shall observe 
still more clearly in the following chapter, the eminent 
character of the Irish is mainly due to their fidelity 
to the Catholic religion. The morality of the Gospel 
is the grandest and most sublime that the world has 
ever seen. He who is faithful to it must not only 
govern his actions but also his words and even his 
very thoughts. He must love even his greatest 
enemies. We can readily understand, therefore, what 
an influence such a religion must have over a race 



17© THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

naturally so magnanimous as the Irish. A striking 
example of this was afforded at the siege of Limerick 
by King William of Orange. It deserves to be written 
in letters of gold. Once during the siege the English 
camp caught fire; and the wounded in the hospitals 
were in danger of perishing in the flames; but the 
Irish, forgetting for a time the strife of conflict, rushed 
into the burning building and rescued their enemies 
from a most frightful death. If our forefathers were 
a vindictive, unforgiving race they would never have 
acted thus; but where is the Englishman who would 
have treated his fallen Irish foe so magnanimously? 

Another great principle which contributed much to 
elevate the character of the Irish race was their in- 
cessant struggle for liberty during the last seven 
centuries. Nothing is more apt to develop true 
patriotism, unselfishness, and sense of honor than a 
grand struggle for national independence. It was this 
which produced such grand characters as Emmett, 
Grattan, Daniel O'Connell, and hundreds of other 
noble Irish patriots who suffered, bled, and died for 
their country. 

Strange to say, this, too, explains the defects in the 
character of the Irish, such as their intemperance, 
which the English are so fond of putting under a 
magnifying glass and examining under the glare of 
a lime light, so that it may appear as hideous as pos- 
sible; while at the same time hiding their own skeleton 
in the closet. 

But how many Englishmen ever reflect that England 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 171 

herself is responsible for this intemperance of the 
Irish? Our Celtic ancestors were a very temperate 
people before the English landed on their shores. 
In the time of St. Patrick drunkenness was unknown 
amongst them. In all his writings the great apostle 
does not refer even once to Irish intemperance. 

It was only after they lost their independence that 
this vice broke out among the Irish people; and when 
we take into consideration all that they suffered from 
English tyranny during the last seven hundred years, 
can we be astonished that they turned to drink? 
Everyone who knows human nature is aware how 
prone men, and even Englishmen, are to drown their 
sorrows in the wine cup. So, when we consider that 
England has not only stolen their country's independ- 
ence, but even robbed them again and again of all 
that they possessed; when we reflect that she has 
banished their bravest and best into exile in a foreign 
land, and that she has broken the heart of many 
a father and mother by casting their noble son into 
prison or causing him to die a shameful death upon 
the scaffold for no other crime than that of loving his 
country, is it any wonder that the Irish in despondency 
have contracted the habit of intoxication? A less 
noble and courageous race would have sought relief 
from all their troubles in the suicide's grave. Yet, 
to the honor of Ireland, her rate of suicides is only 
one fourth that of England, for an equal number of 
people. 

History has likewise left its deep impress upon the 



172 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

character of the Anglo-Saxon; and without the Hght 
ojf EngHsh history it would be utterly impossible to 
understand the English character. To give the Eng- 
lish their due, it cannot be denied that they are an 
intelligent, enterprising, energetic, and thrifty race. 
England has produced many noble-minded men and 
women who were a credit to their country and several 
of them have been canonized by the Catholic Church 
as men of unblemished character and saints of God. 
It would be very difficult indeed to point out in the 
pages of history grander characters than Sir Thomas 
More, Bishop Fisher, and the late Cardinal 
Newman. 

But these were individuals. We are now dealing 
with the English national character and we have 
seen already how the English were a nation of 
robbers from the earliest times; and, we regret to say, 
they have retained all the characteristics of the robber 
even to the present day. We sometimes find snob- 
bish Americans aping the characteristics of the 
English; but how little they realize that by acting 
thus they are only copying the traits of a robber, who 
has not even yet reformed from his misdeeds! 

Even the robber has many remarkable character- 
istics which elicit, if not our admiration, at least our 
amazement. The robber is bold and courageous; 
for a faint-hearted man would never be able to over- 
power his victim and plunder him of all his posses- 
sions. The robber is also cool and calculating; for 
a hot-headed, excitable man would never make a 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 173 

successful plunderer. The burglar must also be en- 
terprising, vigilant, and wide-awake to observe his 
neighbor's property and to watch night and day for 
the best opportunity to seize upon it. But above all 
things the plunderer must possess in an extraordinary 
degree the faculty of cunning, to enable him to lay 
his plans successfully and to cover up his tracks. 

Are not all these characteristics strikingly Eng- 
lish, you know? No one can deny that the English 
are bold and courageous, especially before the weak 
and powerless, though very civil and courteous to the 
strong and powerful. Even English writers them- 
selves confess this. The great English writer, 
Thackeray, in his Irish Sketch Book, Chapters IX 
and X, tells us of a certain English bully who went 
over to Ireland in his own day and tried to bulldoze 
the natives, so that his conduct became disgusting 
even to his country-men. On the other hand he 
highly praises the Irishman as a true gentleman; 
and his only wonder is that he could have so much 
patience and forbearance with the rude, vulgar, 
insolent, English braggart. 

In his Paris Sketch Book, page 10, Thackeray 
develops still more fully the character of the "English 
gentleman." "Believe me," he says, "there is not on 
the face of the earth a scamp like an English one, no 
blackguard like one of these half -gentlemen, so mean, 
so low, so vulgar — so ludicrously ignorant and con- 
ceited, so desperately heartless and depraved." If 
an Irishman under the British flag had painted the 



174 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

English character half as dark as that he would be 
sent into exile for life. 

In bright contrast to this sombre picture, the same 
author relates how hospitably himself, though a per- 
fect stranger and an Englishman, was received in 
Ireland, so that a Dublin lawyer left his office and a 
literary man his books in order to show him the city; 
and he exclaims in astonishment: "Would a London 
man leave his business to trudge to the Tower or to 
the Park with a stranger?" 

Another boasted characteristic of the English is 
their proverbial coolness. They are wonderfully cool- 
headed indeed in all their spoliations. It is high time 
that they should be after fifteen centuries of freeboot- 
ing on land and sea. Their latest exhibition of cool- 
ness was displayed in robbing the poor Boer farmers 
of their diamond fields and their country. That was 
the most remarkable specimen of coolness recorded 
in history since Achab and Jezabel conspired to rob 
Naboth of his vineyard and inheritance. No doubt 
there were in England a great many upright, honest 
men who disapproved of this thievery, but their voice 
was lost in the national din of robbers. Certainly 
Ireland can show no record of Celtic coolness to com- 
pare with this. In this respect the English easily 
carry off the palm. 

The Anglo-Saxon is likewise very vigilant and 
knows exactly the best time to seize his neighbor's 
property, when his attention is engaged elsewhere or 
distracted by civil dissensions. It was thus that 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 175 

England seized upon Ireland, India, and Canada. 
Indeed from time immemorial England has main- 
tained in her secret service a band of spies in every 
country of Europe and America so that she may know 
everything transpiring in these regions which she can 
turn to her own advantage. 

But where the English surpass all other nations is 
in a certain low cunning peculiar to the robber. The 
honest man never has recourse to this base trickery, 
because he has no need of it. It is only the dishonest 
that require it to cover up their crooked ways. This 
explains why the Irish are naturally so credulous, 
because being thoroughly honest themselves they ex- 
pect all others to be like them. 

The English are just the opposite; and wherever 
they cannot succeed by the strength of the lion they 
have recourse to the cunning of the fox. Their motto 
has ever been: "Divide and conquer." It was thus 
that Queen Elizabeth vanquished Ireland by sowing 
civil dissensions among the Irish chieftains. 

Even in this country, which is supposed to be so 
enlightened it is remarkable what a great influence 
English cunning exercises over our American states- 
men. An English diplomat has only to speak of 
''our common Anglo-Saxon blood," "our common 
Anglo-Saxon language and literature," "our common 
English Bible," and "the immortal Shakespeare," 
when straightway all our Anglo-maniacs fall at the 
feet of England and shed tears of regret because the 
War of the Revolution ever took place. It is simply 



176 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

astonishing how with all their intelligence the people 
of the United States can be so easily cajoled. Every- 
body knows how English flattery came very near 
dragging the United States into an alliance with 
"Mother England." In fact it might have succeeded 
but for the Irish patriot, Michael Davitt. It is also 
well known what a vast influence the English states- 
man, Joseph Chamberlain, has during the past decade 
exercised over the foreign policy of the United States. 
There is very little doubt that it was he who drew the 
United States into war with Spain and induced her 
to seize upon the Philippine Islands, in order that she 
might be a counterpoise in the East against Russia 
and also give England a free hand to seize upon the 
Transvaal, with all its rich diamond fields. Once 
having embarked on the business of spoliation the 
United States lost all her moral influence and forfeited 
all right to raise her voice in defence of her sister re- 
publics in South Africa; because then England might 
retort: "See what you yourself are doing in the Philip- 
pines! Those who live in glass houses must not throw 
stones." Thus Secretary of State Hay, who pretends 
to be the greatest diplomatist in the world, has been 
really only the cat's-paw of England, just as Japan is 
her cat's-paw now in the East against Russia. 

Yet Chamberlain who thus cajoled the United 
States is really her worst enemy; and is now striving 
by building up a tariff wall to make Canada a danger- 
ous rival of this country. Verily, these English are 
exceedingly cunning knaves! 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 177 

Nobody should find fault with people for possessing 
a certain amount of shrewdness and circumspection. 
Even the Bible itself recommends prudence, telling 
us to be "wise as serpents." But it likewise instructs 
us to be ''harmless as doves." The Irish may be 
''harmless as doves" but they certainly are not "wise 
as serpents;" and it would do them no harm at all 
to have a little more wordly wisdom. On the other 
hand, the English may be "wise as serpents" but 
they are not by any means "harmless as doves." As 
we shall see in a subsequent chapter their wisdom 
consists of a low, mean, unprincipled cunning. 
The English are the most unscrupulous people in 
the world. They will stop at nothing to accomplish 
their designs. Their history is one continual tale of 
perfidy, hypocrisy, treachery, conspiracy, robbery, 
and even murder of the innocent. 



CHAPTER II. 

Irish and English Morality. 

Hii,RE the word morality is not at all confined 
to its restricted sense as the equivalent of 
chastity or social purity but is employed in 
its broadest signification as a synonym for virtue in 
general. It should be well understood that virtue 
does not mean merely a certain outward veneer or 
polish such as frequently passes for respectability 
among the so-called "good society," at the present 
day. All that "good society" is concerned about is 
a fair exterior. As long as a man dresses well, is 
polite, does not smoke, chew, or drink, nor do any- 
thing that shocks the community he is looked upon as 
a good respectable man, though inwardly his heart 
may be full of corruption, and in reality he is only a 
whitened sepulchre. 

But the Catholic Church has never recognized such 
a standard of morality for her children. After the 
example of the Savior, she insists on regulating the 
whole man — his actions, his words, and even his very 
thoughts. The true CathoUc must not only act 
rightly but also talk rightly, and even think rightly. 
He must not single out one or two of the ten command- 
ments of God and say: "I pay my debts, and I never 
tell a lie;" whilst at the same time neglecting entirely 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 179 

the other eight commandments of the decalogue; but 
he must carefully observe each and every one of the 
commandments. Moreover, there must be no cant, 
no duplicity, no hypocrisy, no game of Dr. Jekyll 
and Mr. Hyde; but he must be thoroughly and sin- 
cerely honest in his whole heart and soul. 

According to this standard of morality, there is no 
doubt whatever that the Irish are a far more moral 
people than the English. We do not make this claim 
on the testimony of Irish authorities ; for then it would 
be a case of a lawyer pleading his own cause; but all 
our proof is based on the unwilling evidence of Eng- 
lishmen themselves, who could not deny the plain 
truth. 

However, it is not at all our desire to depict every 
Irishman as a regular St. Aloysius and to paint every 
Englishman as black as Lucifer; because everybody 
knows that the Irish as well as the English have their 
faults; and that many Englishmen have noble traits 
like the Irish. Yet, until quite recently, the average 
Englishman regarded the Irish only as a very tur- 
bulent and criminal race, lacking every good 
quality. The British newspapers continually re- 
ferred to them as "The Wild Irish;" because, being 
a brave, patriotic people, they would not willingly 
submit to be exploited by the English for their own 
selfish purposes. 

Even in this country, "the land of the free and the 
home of the brave," until a few years ago, many 
prejudices existed in certain quarters against the Irish. 



i8o THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

During the recent anti-Catholic agitation, one of the 
questions asked in the A. P. A. catechism which was 
published by bigots was : " Who fills our prisons ? " and 
the answer was, ''The Roman Catholic Irish." 

Little by little, however, the light of truth began to 
dawn upon the minds of our non-Catholic brethren. 
The late great English statesman, Mr. Gladstone, de- 
servedly called "the Grand Old Man," though at 
first the deadly enemy of the Irish, was gradually 
forced to recognize their sterling virtues, and no doubt, 
did much to open the eyes of his countrymen to their 
real character. The last years of his life especially 
may be well called the era of good feeling and con- 
ciliation; for he introduced into Parliament a bill 
which sooner or later is destined to give Home Rule to 
Ireland. America's grand old man, too, the eloquent 
Senator Hoar, who has just passed away, did a great 
deal to break down the barriers of prejudice 
against the Irish in this continent, so that they are 
now generally recognized at their true value. 

Aside from agrarian and political crime, the sad 
result of English spoliation, and an unfortunate weak- 
ness to intemperance, which as we have seen in the 
previous chapter, is likewise the unhappy consequence 
of English tyranny, the Irish people are the most 
moral race in the world. What greater authority in 
the eyes of an Englishman than the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica ! Yet the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth 
edition, in its article "Ireland" (table No. LVI.) tells 
us that for an equal number of population the number 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON i8i 

of the *' more serious offences" are far greater in 
England than in Ireland. For the year 1878 there 
were only 3842 in Ireland but 4797 in England., The 
Cheltenham English Examiner also informs us in an 
article dated May 16, 1886, that: "Death sentences 
are eight times greater in England than in Ireland 
for an equal number of population. London, equal in 
population to that of all Ireland, has double the 
number of indictable offences. Rural crime is also 
greater in England than in Ireland. For the same 
population there were in England during 1886, nearly 
twice as many aggravated assaults on women and 
children as in Ireland. England had 597 cases and 
Ireland only 337." The writer who was a Presby- 
terian also assures us that "The proportion of crime 
is not only greater in Britain than in Ireland, but is 
also of a more brutal character." 

Mr. French, the agent of the notorious Lord 
Landsowne, in his Journals published in 1868, Vol. 
II., page 130, bears testimony that: "There are ten 
times as many murders in England as in Ireland. The 
English ruffian murders for money; the Irish murders 
patriotically — to enforce a principle. The Irish con- 
vict is not necessarily corrupt — he may be reclaimed. 
The English convict is irreclaimable." 

Nobody would ever accuse the late James Anthony 
Froude of any special love for the Irish people. Many 
people now living remember how he came out from 
England to this country to discredit them, about 
thirty years ago; and how the eloquent Irish 



1 82 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Dominican, Father Burke, followed in order to defend 
the fair name of his race. Yet probably never was 
grander eulogy pronounced over the Irish than fell 
from the lips of this same Froude in a lecture delivered 
in New York, in 1872. "Ireland," he said, ''was one 
of the poorest countries in Europe, yet there was less 
theft, less cheating, less house-breaking, less robbery 
of all kinds than in any other country of the same size 
in the civilized world. In the wildest districts, the 
people slept with unlocked doors and windows with 
as much security as if they had been with the saints 
in Paradise. In the last hundred years at least, im- 
purity had been almost unknown in Ireland. This 
absence of vulgar crime and this exceptional modesty 
of character were due, to their everlasting honor, to 
the influence of the Catholic clergy." 

Equally complimentary to the Irish is the great 
English writer, Thackeray. In his Irish Sketch Book, 
page 58, he pays the following grand tribute to the 
women of Ireland: "The charming gaiety and 
frankness of the Irish ladies have been noted and 
admired by every foreigner who has had the good 
fortune to mingle in their society; and I hope it is not 
detracting from the merit of the upper classes to say 
that the lower are not a whit less pleasing. I never 
saw in any country such a general grace of manner 
and ladyhood. In the midst of their gaiety, too, it 
must be remembered that they are the chastest of 
women, and that no country in Europe can boast of 
such general purity." 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 183 

On page 11 1, the same author continues: "There 
are no more innocent girls in the world than the Irish 
girls, and the women of our squeamish country are 
far more liable to err. One has but to walk through 
an English and an Irish town and see how much supe- 
rior is the morality of the latter. That great terror- 
striker, the Confessional, is before the Irish girl, and 
sooner or later her sins must be told there." 

How strange that both Froude and Thackeray agree 
that the lofty character and high morality of the Irish 
people are due to their religion and the Confessional, 
which so many narrow-minded people say tends to in- 
crease crime, by making its pardon easy! But expe- 
rience teaches just the contrary. When a man goes to 
Confession he must give up sinning. If he relapses 
into the same sin he is soon refused absolution, the 
most effective of all spiritual remedies. Hence, those 
who wish to keep on sinning and leading a wicked life 
give up going to Confession entirely, because they 
know that if they go to Confession they will have to 
amend their lives, to give up their bad habits, to re- 
store their ill-gotten goods, and to repair the injury 
done to their neighbor. 

Among all the books which I have read I never 
found but one that really assailed the morality of 
the Irish, and gave any data to justify such an 
attack on their character. That is the book to which 
I have already alluded, "The Priests and People of 
Ireland," by Michael McCarthy. But it is very 
evident that the author was, as we say in America, 



i84 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

"only playing to the galleries," or in other words, only 
catering to the English people, so that they might 
purchase his publication. 

Yet the only trace of immorality which he seems 
to have been able to discover in the whole of Ireland 
was in a small portion of the City of Dublin, which he 
styled a regular "Yoshiwari" or Japanese dive. He 
likewise claims that eighty per cent, of the fallen 
women of Dublin in houses of ill-repute are Catholics. 
But certainly the Irish people may well congratulate 
themselves, even according to Mr. McCarthy's cal- 
culations, to have only one wicked city in the whole 
island. Where is there another country that has such 
a glorious record as that ? How many immoral cities 
there are in England it would be indeed difficult to 
count. But how shall we explain the exceptional 
wickedness of Dublin that renders it ao much out of 
harmony with the rest of the country ? The explana- 
tion is easy. Though situated in Ireland, in reality 
Dublin is not strictly speaking an Irish city at all. It 
was originally built by the Danes, and has long been 
a kind of cosmopolitan city, which, like other great 
sea-port towns, becomes a sink for the moral dregs of 
the world. But what is still more responsible for the 
degradation of Dublin is the proximity of Dublin 
Castle, with its degraded English garrison. In reality 
Dublin is only a suburb of the Castle, and those who 
are in a position to know assure us that it was the 
English garrison with its troops of vile camp-followers 
that debauched the capital of Ireland. This is the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 185 

only intelligent way to explain why Dublin is so im- 
moral and the rest of the island is so irreproachable. 

It is true the Catholic Church is supposed to be 
supreme in Dublin, but what can the clergy do when 
they have not the civil power to enforce their de- 
mands ? People engaged in such nefarious traffic defy 
the most positive commandments of God and His 
Church. The only thing that terrifies them is the 
policeman's club. However, notwithstanding Mr. 
McCarthy's assertion that 80 per cent, of the inmates 
of Dublin's houses of ill-repute are "practical 
Catholics," I unhesitatingly claim that not one of 
them is a Catholic. They may have been Catholics 
once. They may have been born of good Catholic 
parents and been baptized Catholics, but just as soon 
as they entered on their evil ways the Catholic 
Church excommunicated them. She cast them out 
of her fold as Lucifer was cast out of heaven, and 
now they have no more right to be called Catholics 
than the demons in hell have to be styled angels. 
But after all, how incomparably virtuous the Irish 
people must be when even their political enemies 
have been compelled to praise them! 

As Englishmen have spoken so eulogistically of the 
Irish, we sincerely wish that we could speak equally 
well of the English race; but unfortunately, regard for 
the truth will not permit us. Be as charitable as you 
may, palliate their faults as much as possible, yet as we 
have already observed in Part II, Chapter V, there is 
something exceedingly brutal and cold-blooded in the 



i86 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

character of the English that is entirely foreign to 
Irish character. History bears testimony to this fact. 

Perhaps there is nothing which better indicates the 
real character of a race than their native religious be- 
lief, unalloyed by any external influences, because a 
people's religious ideals manifest everything that is 
noblest and grandest in their nature, and portray the 
loftiest aspirations of the soul. Yet it is actually a 
fact related in Sanderson's History of England, page 
21, that before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to 
Christianity, their idea of heaven was "a bright place 
called Valhalla, where they should lie on couches quaf- 
fing ale from the skulls of foemen who had fallen in 
battle." What can we think of a race with such 
brutal religious instincts as that? Search all history 
and you will never find such degraded religious senti- 
ments recorded of any other race, even of the lowest 
savages of the forest. 

Another thing which well illustrates the character 
of a people is their humanity or inhumanity in the 
infliction of capital punishment. But scarcely had 
the English gained a foothold in Ireland, in the thir- 
teenth century, when they made a law that any Eng- 
lishman who dared to marry an Irish woman should 
be hanged, and whilst yet alive should have his bowels 
torn out by the executioner, though as Lord Macaulay 
facetiously remarked: "It was not likely that a dis- 
loyal subject could feel himself won back to loyalty 
whilst the hangman was grabbing at his entrails." 
Equally barbarous was that form of execution known 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 187 

as "hanging, drawing, and quartering," wlych meant 
that the poor, unfortunate victim, when only half 
dead was cut down and his body was hacked into 
four quarters. Then his mutilated remains were 
hung over a bridge, in the public highway, as a ghastly 
warning to others. Yet these brutal forms of execu- 
tion survived to the dawn of the eighteenth century. 
But the most dreadful of all forms of execution was 
that of burning at the stake. Yet, as if these barbar- 
ities were not sufficiently cruel, they were frequently 
preceded by torture on the rack, besides which the 
horrors of the Spanish inquisition dwindle into 
insignificance. 

Still more brutal, if that were possible, was Eng- 
land's persecution of the Irish people for their fidelity 
to their religion. To read of the barbarities which 
she inflicted on the Irish mart)Ts would freeze the 
very life-blood in our veins. A single instance will 
suffice to illustrate her diabolical cruelty. In the 
time of Queen Elizabeth, Bishop O'Herlihy, because 
he would not acknowledge the Queen as Pope, had 
his feet stuffed into tin boots filled with oil and then 
placed in stocks over the fire until the boiling oil had 
eaten away every particle of flesh up to his knees. 
During this dreadful torture the heroic bishop groaned 
and sobbed so piteously that he would move the heart 
of a Sioux or a Comanche Indian ; but his moans had 
no more effect on his English torturers than they 
would have on the demons of hell. 

Can we be astonished that people of such a character 



i88 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

employed the scalping Indians of the forest against 
their own flesh and blood in the American Revolu- 
tionary War ? The great English statesman, William 
Pitt, himself, bears testimony to this, and denounces 
this uncivilized method of warfare in his speeches, 
in which he describes the savages as ''butchering, 
mutilating, and even devouring their mangled 
victims." 

No doubt it will be alleged that all this occurred a 
long time ago and that since then the English character 
has become much more humane. It is quite true 
that if you meet an educated EngUshman at the pres- 
ent day he appears to be the most polished, the most 
refined, and the most cultured gentleman in the world. 
Yet, after fourteen centuries of Christianity, the civil- 
ization of England is only skin deep ; and certainly 
the Englishmen proved this only a few years ago, in 
the Boer War. 

Though pretending to be filled with horror at the 
ferocity of the Turks towards the poor Armenians, 
and turning up the whites of their eyes at the Russian 
atrocities in Siberia, these saintly English did not 
scruple to use against the Boers, Dum Dum or explo- 
sive bullets, condemned by all civilized nations and 
even by the English themselves at the Hague Interna- 
tional Peace Conference a short time before. Worse 
still — even at|this era[of enlightenment, the opening 
of||the twentieth ^century,' they actually employed the 
savage^ Hottentots of South Africa to shootMown-^the 
gallant Boer farmers battling for liberty, and to mas- 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 189 

sacre their noble wives, mothers and children, whilst 
their heroic sons, husbands, and fathers were defending 
their country on the battle-field. But most shameful 
of all — these brave English soldiers themselves actually 
made war on the poor, helpless Boer women and chil- 
dren, collecting them into what were styled Concen- 
tration Camps, where they died by the hundreds, of 
hunger and disease, so that finally, to save them from 
extermination, the gallant Boer soldiers laid down their 
arms. Indeed, Colonel Blake, the commander of the 
Irish Brigade, who fought side by side with the Boers, 
and afterwards wrote the history of the war, assures 
us that but for the sake of their women and children 
these heroic farmers would never have surrendered. 

What a dreadful story of English brutality! Yet 
England's moral turpitude, is, if that were possible, 
of a still darker dye. A single walk through London, 
travelers tell us, is sufficient to convince any unprej- 
udiced mind that it is the most immoral city in the 
world. Here is an extract from an article in the New 
York Sun of November 13, 1892, in which an im- 
partial American relates what he witnessed in 
London with his own eyes: 

"The degradation of woman is more common in 
London than in any other great city of the world. 
Nowhere is the social evil so obtrusive and so unre- 
pressed. Vice in London is more repulsive than in 
more seductive Paris. But what it lacks in gilding 
it makes up in obtrusiveness and insistence. No- 
where on earth can anything be found to match the 



I90 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

scenes in Regent Street, Piccadilly, and the Strand, 
late at night. Soliciting by women is entirely un- 
checked by the police. An American gentleman 
walked along the Strand for a single block one even- 
ing last week, (November 3, 189 2), without in any way 
encouraging attention except by his rather slow walk, 
and he was accosted by no less than twenty-six women. 
Within a hundred yards of Piccadilly Circus there may 
be counted on any pleasant evening from 150 to 300 
bold, painted faces that mark as plainly as would a 
branding-iron the name of outcast. 

* 'London shuts its official eye to the whole thing, and 
as a result vice flaunts itself where it will. Even day- 
light does not shame it out of sight. Criticism is an 
ungracious task, but when the subjects of it are them- 
selves the critics of all the world, perhaps no apology 
is needed. The temptation to point the finger of 
scorn at London — hypercritical, hypocritical, London 
— is far greater than to join in the chorus of denuncia- 
tion of gay and slandered Paris. Paris is gloriously 
wicked, London is guiltily so." 

We might imagine that perhaps the moral condi- 
tion of London has improved very much since the 
above lines were written over a decade ago. But, on 
the contrary, it seems to have deteriorated still more, 
and vice has become much bolder. An American 
gentleman just returned from Europe has assured 
me that fallen women as thick as flies still infest that 
portion of London which is called the Strand, and so 
audacious have they become that they sometimes 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 191 

snatch the hats of travelers off their heads in order 
that they may pursue them into some low dive where 
they are robbed by their male confederates. 

England cannot say like Ireland that she has only 
one immoral city within her borders, for what has 
been related of London is equally true of all the rest 
of England. Mr. Joseph Kay, though himself an 
Englishman, in his famous work, "The Social Condi- 
tion of the English People," page 118, declares that: 

"In the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk illegitimacy 
is very prevalent. The immorality of the young 
women is literally horrible, and I regret to say that it 
is on the increase in a most alarming degree. No 
person seems to think anything at all of it. There 
appears to be among the lower class a perfect deadness 
of all moral feeling upon the subject, and it is abso- 
lutely impossible to convince them that immorality is 
wrong. They generally say that if they never do 
anything worse than that they shall get to Heaven as 
well as other people." 

But still more frightful is the account of English 
immorality from the pen of an Anglican minister, the 
Rev. J. B. Sweet, Vicar of Devon, in 1883: 

"Our fashionable and vulgar morality," he says, 
"is the natural product of our popular theology. 
Licentiousness, dishonesty, profligacy, gambling, and 
immorahty characterize large classes of society. At no 
previous date in English history, has the marriage- 
bond, the very basis of society, been so openly vio- 
lated and dishonored as to-day. The Divorce-Law 



192 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

of the State is eating into the very vitals of the nation. 
It permits and encourages dissolution of marriage on 
easy terms, facilitates (whilst protesting against) col- 
lusive actions for adultery, and floods the whole realm 
with vile details of evidence given in the divorce courts. 
What wonder that marriage is made by multitudes a 
cloak for sin, that concubinage increases, and that 
the streets of our metropolis and of various provin- 
cial towns are said to swarm with prostitutes, often 
mere children, to an extent never known before!" 

What a horrifying picture of English immorality! 
Thanks be to God such a horrible state of things 
would not be permitted for a single day in Catholic 
Ireland. According to statistics for an equal number 
of population, there is over three times more immo- 
rality in England than in Ireland. But the darkest 
of all of England's dark crimes is the awful sin of 
infanticide, that awful transgression which cries to 
heaven for vengeance as Holy Scripture says: "Tell 
it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon." 
Even the fiercest tiger in the forest will defend her 
offspring with the last drop of her blood, but the 
English who claim to be the most enlightened, the 
most civilized, the most cultured and the most 
refined people in the world, actually murder their 
own children, sometimes before they are born at 
all — and generally for the sake of money, so that 
the support of their little ones may not be a burden to 
them or an "obstacle to' the accumulation of wealth. 
Can we imagine anything more brutal, more 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 193 

unnatural, morejheartless, and more cold-blooded 
than this? Yet it is no invention of the imagination, 
no fabrication, of an enemy, for even candid Eng- 
lishmen themselves in shame and sorrow have been 
compelled with blushes to acknowledge its truth. 

Mr. Kay, whom we have already quoted so often, 
thus sadly refers to this unspeakable crime: 

"Alas, these accounts are only too true! There can 
be no doubt that a great part of the poorer classes of 
this country are sunk in such a frightful depth of hope- 
lessness, of misery, and utter moral degradation that 
even mothers forget their affection for their helpless 
children and kill them as a butcher does his lambs, in 
order to make money by murder." 

A Protestant clergyman, also, the Rev. Canon 
Humble, in an article contributed to The Church and 
the World J in 1866, furnishes us with still more ghastly 
details of this indescribable crime: 

"Bundles are left lying about the streets which 
people will not touch lest the too familiar object — a 
child's body — should be revealed, perchance with a 
pitch-plaster over its mouth, or a woman's garter 
roixnd its throat. Thus, too, the metropolitan canal 
boats are impeded, as they are tracked along, by the 
number of drowned infants with which they come in 
contact, and the land is becoming defiled with the 
blood of the innocent. We are told by Dr. Lankester 
that there are 12,000 women in London to whom the 
crime of child-murder may be attributed. In other 



194 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

words one out of every thirty women between the ages 
of fifteen and forty-five years is a murderess." 

Mr. Kay again assures us that in 1850 it was "a 
common practice for the degraded poor in many towns 
to enter their children in what were called 'burial 
clubs' and then cause their death by starvation, ill- 
usage, or poison in order to get the insurance money." 
He cites as an example how in the City of Manchester, 
"One man put his children into nineteen clubs and 
one single club boasted of 34,100 members, though 
the whole population of the town was only 36,000." 

The Rev. B. Waugh, Hkewise, in an article contrib- 
uted to the Contemporary Review , May, 1890, on 
"Baby Farming" and another on "Child Insurance," 
in the same magazine, July 1890, affirms that more 
than a thousand children — most of them no doubt ille- 
gitimate — are murdered annually in England for insur- 
ance money. Even so recently as May, 189 1, the 
London Times related how the lifeless bodies of ten 
infants had just been found floating on the Thames, 
with their skulls fractured, their nostrils flattened over 
their faces, and their heads all knocked to pieces. 

Surely the wrath of God must soon fall upon Eng- 
land for this wholesale murder of the innocents, whose 
cries ascend to heaven calling for justice on their 
murderers. For twenty centuries Herod has been 
justly execrated by the whole world for slaughtering 
the babes of Bethlehem, but what were the few hun- 
dred put to death by Herod to the tens of thousands 
murdered in England by their own fathers and 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 195 

mothers? Search ; aU'ithe records of all the most 

di at 

wicked pagan cities of old, condemned in the pages 
of Holy Writ, and you will not find anything so horri- 
ble as the moral condition of England at the present 
day. Tyre, Sidon, and Ninive, which God once 
threatened to destroy within forty days, were saintly 
cities in comparison with London. Even Sodom and 
Gomorrah on which the Lord rained down fire and 
brimstone were respectable in contrast with it. 

What must we think of the character of the Eng- 
lish people who are guilty of such brutal, unnatural, 
cold-blooded crimes against their own offspring and 
have no more regard for the life of their children than 
that of a dog or a cat? Must they not be entirely 
lacking in every religious instinct, every generous im- 
pulse, every noble, humane sentiment? Must they 
not have the heart of a hyena ? 

God forbid that we should insult the noble, gener- 
ous, pure, God-fearing Irish by comparing them to 
such a totally depraved race, guilty of such hell-born 
crimes! It is quite true that the Irish have their own 
peculiar faults and failings like other races, but at 
least they have never been so wild or savage as to 
murder their own offspring, and by destroying the 
family undermine the very foundations of all society. 

But our American readers may ask: "If the Irish 
are such model people at home why have they such 
an unenviable criminal record in this country?" At 
first thought we might be tempted to retort that per- 
haps the Americans themselves did not always set 



196 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

them good example. But, on more mature delibera- 
tion, we are convinced that there are two other causes 
which are far more responsible for the alleged criminal- 
ity of our race in the United States. They are emi- 
gration and the saloon. Transplanting is rarely ben- 
eficial either to a tree or to man. How often a beau- 
tiful tree that is transplanted withers and dies! So 
everybody, at all experienced, knows that emigration 
from one's native land is a dangerous trial to virtue. 
At home a man has everything to strengthen his moral 
character. He and his family may be well-known 
and highly respected in the community. Therefore, 
he has not only to maintain his own good name but 
also that of his family, since even the humblest Irish 
family is as proud of its family tree as the greatest 
royal house of Europe. But when an Irishman leaves 
his native land and comes into a strange country, 
where nobody knows him and he has no family honor 
to sustain, he would not be human if he did not ex- 
perience a great temptation to indulge in dissipation. 
This is the conclusion arrived at by an American 
gentleman by the name of Mr. Charles Brace, after 
an investigation of twenty years among the emigrants 
of New York. The result of his observations he sums 
up in the following words: 

"There is no question that the breaking up of the 
ties with one's country has a bad moral effect, 
especially on the laboring class. The emigrant is 
released from the social inspection and judgment to 
which he has been subjected at home, and the tie of 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 197 

Church and priesthood is weakened. If a Roman 
Catholic he is often a worse Catholic without being a 
better Protestant. If a Protestant he often becomes 
indifferent. Moral ties are loosened with the religious. 
The consequence is that most of the criminals of New 
York are foreign-born, and the majority of these were 
born in Ireland ; and yet at home the Irish are one of 
the most law-abiding and virtuous of populations — the 
proportion of criminals being smaller than in England." 
Yet, at the same time it should be remembered 
that the crimes of the Irish in this country are usually 
confined to the minor offences such as drunkenness 
and disorder. The more serious crimes like embez- 
zlement and murder, are generally the work of others. 
But, even for the lighter offences, it is now getting to 
be universally recognized that the criminal record of 
the Irish is undeserved; for many native Americans 
when arrested for being drunk and disorderly take 
Irish names in order not to bring disgrace on their 
own families. A short time ago, the newspapers re- 
lated how a young Yankee who had not a drop of 
Irish blood in his veins, took his revenge on his cap- 
tor by actually taking the name of the Irish police- 
man who arrested him. Any police officer in Boston 
will tell you that it is a very common practice for the 
proudest swells of the Back Bay, when they come 
within the meshes of the law, to^give their name and 
nationality as Irish. No doubt this despicable arti- 
fice has contributed in no ^ small degree to build up 
the criminal record of the Irish race. 



198 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Says the Catholic Citizen of New York: "A Jew, 
booked for some offence in the New York Police 
Court, gave his name as McGinnis, and his birth- 
place, Ireland. This instance of the unfavorable 
bearing of criminal statistics, on the Irish race 
'went the rounds' of the press at the time. Many 
offenders, possessed of a low cunning, and a spite- 
ful sense of humor, seek to revenge themselves on 
the burly Irish policeman who arrests them, by 
claiming to be of his nationality. Policeman Tom 
Murphy, in Milwaukee, on New Year's night, picked 
up a drunk and disorderly man and brought him to 
the station. The offender knew the policeman who 
arrested him, and he got even, so to speak, by book- 
ing himself as Tom Murphy. So Tom Murphy 
arrested Tom Murphy." 

But the best evidence of systematic blackening 
of the Irish record is furnished by the following ex- 
tract from the Chicago Chronicle, of January i, 
1905:— 

" 'You are giving the Irish the worst of it.' Such 
was the plea voiced by Hugo Grosser, the city statis- 
tician, yesterday, to ninety-five desk sergeants who 
assembled at the Harrison Street police station to 
receive instructions as to how to keep the new set of 
books in which to record police statistics. The city 
statistician is a German, and it is safe to say that a 
majority of the desk sergeants are Irish, but Mr. 
Grosser insisted, nevertheless, that he had the good of 
the sons of Erin more at heart than the policemen had. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 199 

*' 'The statistics which are furnished now regarding 
the nativity of the prisoners arrested are entirely in- 
correct,' said Mr. Grosser. 'There is not enough 
care taken. Nearly every man arrested says he is 
Irish, and his nativity is so entered on the arrest book. 
Men with German brogues and those who hardly can 
speak a word of English are classified as Irish in the 
police statistics. Even two negroes were said to 
have been born in Ireland in the reports which I 
have gone over. 

" 'I am telling you this to convince you that more 
care should be taken in making entries in the new 
books. A few judicious questions will generally 
elicit the truth.' " 



CHAPTER III. 

Alleged Irish Ixtemfeilajs-ce. 

THIS is a subject which every Irish author ap- 
proaches with fear and trembling, because 
he knows that intemperance has been for 
centuries the cui-se and the national sin of his race. 
Do what he \\"ill, explain it as best he can, place the 
responsibiUt}' wherever he may, he cannot deny the 
fact, for everybody knows it, especially here in the 
United States. Nothing remains but to confess it in 
shame and humiliation, for "a fault confessed is haH 
redressed." 

No imagination can picture, no mind can conceive, 
no tongue can tell aU the e^*ils that this dreadful Wee 
has brought upon our race. How many wives it has 
made widows, how many children it has made or- 
phans, how many "^"ictims it has "driven to insanity or 
to an early grave, how many famihes it has broken 
up, how many adherents it has caused to be lost to 
the Church, God alone can tell! 

As we look around this srreat countrv to-dav it is 
gratifying to notice how many poor Irish emigrants 
who came here less than a score of years ago now pos- 
ses nice, comfortable homes of their own, whilst their 
sons are going to college and their daughters to an 
academy. Certainly this speaks volumes for their 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 201 

thrift, their industry, and their temperate habits. 
But how many other Irishmen who came here at the 
same time are still living in wretched hovels not fit for 
swine! Their wives and children are starving with 
the hunger, their clothing is in rags, and they would 
perish with the cold in the Winter if the Church did 
not take pity on them whilst their miserable husbands 
and fathers spend all their earnings for intoxicating 
liquor on a Saturday night, instead of bringing home 
their wages for the support of their families. 

In times gone by how many other Irish fathers and 
mothers, unworthy of the name, did not intemperance 
plunge into prison or into an early grave, but what be- 
came of their poor, unfortunate children? Before 
Catholic homes were erected to receive them they 
passed into the hands of the State — a Protestant State. 
The State transferred them into the custody of Prot- 
estant families, hundreds of them wxre shipped out 
West to other Protestant families, and brought up 
Protestants. That is one of the principal reasons 
why to-day we find so many Protestants having good, 
old, Irish-Catholic names. But that is the only thing 
Catholic about them, for they are the most bigoted of 
all Protestants, and they hate the Catholic Church 
more than any other Protestants do, because that is 
the way they were instructed by their Protestant fos- 
ter-parents. It is estimated that 10,000,000 souls 
have been lost to the Catholic Church in this country 
alone. There is no doubt that many of|these losses 
are due to the evils of mixed marriages and the 



ao2 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

scarcity of priests in the early days of American his- 
tory, but no inconsiderable part of this leakage may 
be attributed to the conduct of unworthy parents, 
through whose intemperance many children were lost 
to the true faith. Only for these defections the 
number of Catholics in the United States would be 
double what it is to-day. Instead of only 10,000,000 
Catholics we should have 20,000,000. Thus we 
have lost more by perversion than we have gained 
by conversion. 

It is very hard to understand how the Irish, whose 
character, as we have observed in the previous chapter, 
is naturally so noble, could degrade themselves to 
such a beastly sin as gluttony, like that low, de- 
graded animal called the glutton, which eats and 
drinks until it has made itself sick. The explanation 
is that the Irish are not naturally more intemperate 
than people of other races but they have been very 
unfortunate indeed in the selection of their national 
beverage. The German loves his beer, the French- 
man, the Italian and the Spaniard their wines. All 
these are only slightly intoxicating liquors; but very 
unhappily for the Irishman, his choice has been 
the highly intoxicating whiskey. This explains why 
people on the continent of Europe may drink nearly 
all day and yet b6 considered a temperate race, 
but very little experience with whiskey is sufficient to 
brand the Irish man as a drunkard and a criminal. It 
is thus that the Irish have got such a reputation for 
criminality. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 203 

Before the invention of whiskey the Irish people 
were a most exemplary race. They were a nation of 
saints and scholars, \^^en St. Patrick went to convert 
them fifteen centuries ago, drunkenness was unknown 
amongst them, because whiskey had not yet been 
invented, nor for centuries afterwards. If it had, it is 
Hkely that even St. Patrick himself could not have 
converted Ireland so easily. But if St. Patrick would 
only rise from the dead and visit his spiritual children 
to-day, what a change he would find! No doubt he 
would discover a great many Irish Catholics leading 
good, sober, temperate lives to-day, as in his own 
time, but how many others would he behold disgrac- 
ing their family, their Church, and their religion by 
their intemperate lives! 

It is now more than eight centuries since whiskey 
was first invented, and who can calculate all the mis- 
fortunes which it has occasioned our race during 
that time? If the Arabian chemist who invented it 
in the eleventh century could have foreseen all the 
mischief it would produce in the world, he would 
never have made known his discovery to mankind. 
From Arabia merchants carried over the new inven- 
tion to Ireland and it was there, I regret to say, that it 
received the name which it bears to the present day. 
The word whiskey is an Irish expression that means 
''the water of life." If the poor Irishman that gave 
it such a fanciful title could have foreknown what 
havoc it would have wrought among his countrymen, 
he would never have given it such a high-sounding 



204 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

appellation. He would probably have styled it 
"firewater" as the Indians of the forest named it 
when it was first introduced among them, for that 
is the name it deserves. 

For hundreds of years the Catholic Church has 
been striving hard to eradicate the vice of intemper- 
ance from the hearts of the Irish people, otherwise her 
noblest subjects, Every\vhere she has established 
temperance societies and raised up powerful tem_per- 
ance crusaders to combat this terrible evil. WTiere, 
outside the Catholic Church, has there ever been 
found a great temperance reformer like Father 
Matthew, who, in a visit to the United States, ad- 
ministered the total abstinence pledge to 600,000 of 
his countrymen, besides millions of others in Ireland, 
England and Scotland ? In this country, too, even at 
the present day, what a gallant corps of temperance 
leaders we have in Archbishop Ireland, Bishop 
Conaty, and the Rev. John Mullen, D. C. L., of 
Boston, who is now so ably filling the place of the 
late lamented Father Scully! 

Moreover, at the last Plenary Council of Baltimore, 
all the Catholic Bishops of the United States con- 
demned the liquor traffic as a disreputable business, 
and called upon all Catholics to give up the liquor 
saloon and engage in some more honorable occupa- 
tion, as soon as possible. Besides, several Catholic 
societies, such as the Knights of Columbus, and the 
Catholic Union of Boston, positively refuse to admit 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 205 

to membership in these associations anyone who is 
in any way connected with the liquor business. 

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that most of those 
engaged in the liquor business are still Irish Catholics, 
and this has given our English cousins a pretext for 
asserting that the Catholic Church is the fruitfu 
mother of rum-sellers and drunkards. But nothing 
is further from the truth. This base calumny comes 
with very poor grace from those who are not by any 
means models of temperance themselves. Indeed, it 
is a fact not generally known that intemperate as the 
Irish certainly are, the English are far more so. We 
do not say this to excuse the intemperance of the 
Irish but simply to remind their critics that they should 
"cast the beam out of their own eye before they at- 
tempt to take the mote out of their brother's eye." 
The inebriety of the Irish has become so notorious, 
because the English, in order to withdraw the attention 
of mankind from their own faults, have published the 
defects of our race all over the world. Even the 
amiable Thackeray has an intoxicated Irishman as 
one of the low characters of one of his novels called 
"Pendennis." 

Yet, according to statistics, there is far more intox- 
icating liquor consumed in England and Scotland 
than there is in Ireland. Mulhall, though himself an 
Englishman and a Fellow^ of the Royal Statistical 
Society, tells us in his "Dictionary of Statistics," a 
work of great research composed in 1892, that the 
average yearly consumption of alcoholic Hquor, for 



2o6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

each inhabitant of the United Kingdom is, in Ireland 
only 1.40 gallons, in Scotland, 1.60 gallons, but in 
England 2.13 gallons. It is true there are more con- 
victions for drunkenness in Ireland in proportion to 
the population than in England, but, as we shall soon 
see, that is because the laws against intoxication are 
enforced in Ireland and not in England. On the 
other hand, the number of deaths from inebriety, is 
considerably greater in England in proportion to 
population than in Ireland. Indeed, if London is 
any criterion of the rest of England, that kingdom 
must be the most intemperate nation in the world. 
Here is an extract from the New York Sun, of 
November 13, 1892, which contains some very start- 
ling truths: 

"The degradation of woman in London is more 
common than in any other great city of the world. 
Nowhere else is drunkenness as common among 
women as among men. All her public bars are 
thronged with women, and there are more drunken 
women on her streets than drunken men; and a very 
large majority of the prisoners complained of in her 
principal police courts for being 'drunk and dis- 
orderly' are women. This has been the state of things 
for some time, but the evil has been growing rapidly 
worse, and it was not until the Daily Telegraph began 
a series of graphic portrayals of the great disgrace 
imder the caption "The National Shame" that the 
callous public conscience was aroused. 

"In America it would be safe to assume, nine times 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 207 

out of ten, that a woman seen drinking at a public 
saloon bar was a drunkard and that she was not a 
stranger to the police court. The practice is unknown 
even among the lowest resorts. On the other hand, 
almost every public bar in London has a very large 
portion of it partitioned off for the special use of female 
customers. This does not mean that there is any real 
privacy or separation of the sexes. Gin is the utmost 
tipple and gin is to-day a greater curse to English 
women than whiskey is to all America. 

Statistics of vice are entirely untrustworthy data 
upon which to base an estimate of the moral standing 
of a community or nation. The town which enforces 
in the courts the laws against drunkenness and un- 
chastity for instance, appears on the records to be 
steeped in vice, while its profligate neighbor, which 
scarcely represses indulgence in vicious appetites, 
passes for a model community. But if everybody 
who got drunk in London was arrested, all the jails 
and police stations of the metropolis could not hold 
the prisoners. No one is ever arrested in London for 
simple intoxication. The law as it stands does not 
permit it. The police have not even authority to ar- 
rest a drunken person in a place of public amusement. 

''A woman drunk or under the influence of liquor is 
a rare sight in the streets of New York. But in the 
streets of London, the black-bonnetted, black-gowned, 
shabby, listless figure, with pale, prematurely old, 
slightly bloated face, bearing traces still of refinement, 
with bony, white hands holding the black shawl tightly 



2o8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

about her, standing patiently and pennilessly outside 
the public house, is a sight more familiar than the 
policeman on the corner. She does not beg. That 
would be a crime, and would bring swift punishment 
as does every offence under the English law which in 
the least threatens an Englishman's purse. She waits, 
no matter how long, until another of her class, more 
fortunate than she comes with a few coins to purchase 
and share the 'drop,' which alone brings them a poor 
counterfeit of happiness. 

"Lady Frederick Cavendish in a recent address 
before the annual Church Congress said : 

'In the old heavy-drinking days, excess among the 
ladies was to the best of my belief, absolutely unknown. 
Can we say so much to-day? Are nips at ii A. M. 
or after dinner unheard of or never resorted to by 
ladies ? I must also here protest against a new fashion 
of young ladies — or old ones for that matter — accom- 
panying the gentlemen to the smoking-room after 
dinner and sharing not only the cigars but the spirits 
and water.' " 

No wonder that England is getting alarmed over 
the intemperance of her citizens, when according to 
statistics 60,000 people die in England every year 
of the effects of intoxicating drink; there are 600,000 
habitual drunkards in Britain and 8,373 ^^ these are 
women ! With such a terrible record for intemperance 
how can the English with any sort of decency point 
the finger of scorn at the Irish for lack of sobriety? 

Though we shall not at all attempt to excuse or 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 209 

palliate the faults of our countrymen, there is no 
doubt that their intemperance has been greatly ex- 
aggerated, and they have been placed in a false light 
in comparison with other races. The prosperous 
Yankee or Englishman has all the liquor he wishes 
in his own house, or he has a sumptuous club-room 
where he may drink as much as he pleases. If he 
gets intoxicated his comrades call a hack and send 
him home, so that he may sleep ofif his debauch. 
Next day he is as sober as ever and few are the wiser 
of his condition the previous night. But as most of 
our Irish emigrants to this country have hitherto been 
very poor, the bar-room was their cheapest club- 
room. However, if they happened to indulge a little 
to excess there, they had no hackman to take them 
home and nine times out of ten fell into the arms of a 
policeman. Besides, it is very unfortunate for the 
Irishman that an excess of liquor generally makes 
him very belligerent. Whilst intoxication stupefies 
an Englishman or a Scotchman and reduces him to 
the condition of a brute, it generally makes the 
Irishman so lively that as Henry Cabot Lodge said: 
"He wants to annihilate all the enemies of his native 
land." Accordingly he generally mistakes the police 
officer who arrests him for an Orangeman. The 
result is that next day he is in court not only on a 
charge of drunkenness, but likewise of assault. 
Thus the poor Irishman has built up for himself an 
unmerited criminal record which the more prosper- 
ous Englishman has been spared. 



2IO THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

If Irishmen would avoid this undeserved reproach 
in the future, the only safe course to follow is to give 
up imbibing whiskey altogether. Nobody but a fa- 
natic will assert that whiskey is bad in itself, or that 
it is sinful to drink it in moderation, but there is gen- 
erally so much danger of drinking to excess that it 
is far better to abstain from it entirely. If our coun- 
trymen must have some stimulant, let them, like 
the French, the Italians, and the Spaniards drink 
only wine, or imitate the Germans, who pass a most 
pleasant evening of sociability over a couple of glasses 
of beer and a few songs. 

Another wise resolution which the Irish people 
should take is to give up the habit of treating. There 
is no doubt that this has been the immediate cause of 
much of their intemperance in the past. It is not from 
brutal desire of liquor that an Irishman drinks but 
generally for friendship's sake. So when a company 
of Irishmen meet together, each one insists on treat- 
ing his comrades in turn until they are all intox- 
icated. Hence the late Cardinal Newman once said 
that: *^The Irishman drinks from sociability, but 
the Englishman from brutality. Consequently, if the 
Irish were not so free-hearted and free-handed, if 
they abstained from whiskey and did away with the 
old, obsolete, threadbare custom of treating, they 
would be the most temperate people in the world. 
Then they would soon become a great power at 
home and abroad. This would do more than any- 
thing else to hasten Home Rule; for it would be the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 21 ^ 

best proof that the Irish are capable of governing 
themselves. 

In this cx)untry, too, it would increase their influence 
a hundred fold. As the Yankees are now dying out, 
the Irish would inherit all the property which they have 
been accumulating for hundreds of years. Instead 
of a New England we should soon have a New Ire- 
land. This whole vast country would simply be a 
Land of Promise for our race. Will they or will they 
not prove worthy of their heritage ? If they fail to take 
advantage of their opportunity, the French, the 
Italians, the Hebrews, and the Negroes, who are 
following closely behind them, will receive the grand 
inheritance which they failed to grasp. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Are the Irish an Envious Race? 

NEXT to the accusation of intemperance there 
is no charge more frequently made against 
the Irish people than that they are a very 
envious race who are jealous of the prosperity of 
their English neighbors and of one another. How- 
ever, it would be very hard for their accusers to 
substantiate this baseless allegation. The general 
character of the Irish people is sufficient proof 
against such a contemptible slander. 

The Irish are naturally a kind-hearted, frank, open 
people, full of good-nature and sunshine. Every trav- 
eler who visits their isle immediately remarks that. 
One of the first things that attracted the attention of 
the English writer Thackeray, on his visit to Ireland 
more than half a century ago, was the genial, hospit- 
able disposition of the inhabitants. But certainly 
that is not the congenial soil for the weeds of envy to 
grow. 

Nevertheless, it is true that in spite of ail his good 
nature, wherever you meet an Irishman, whether in 
his native land or in exile in distant climes, he almost 
invariably manifests a deep-seated hatred against 
England and the EngUsh Government. Indeed this 
is a feeling which he makes no attempt to conceal. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 213 

and it is even more intense in those who have left 
their native land than in those who have remained at 
home. 

Any sensible man can see at a glance that this feel- 
ing of resentment is the very best proof of English 
tyranny, oppression, and misgovernment in Ireland. 
The slightest exercise of common sense should con- 
vince anyone that a people so good and amiable as the 
Irish naturally are would not entertain such bitter 
feelings in their hearts without reason. It is clear 
that it must have sprung from some wrong, and a 
very grievous wrong, or some great injury on the 
part of England. 

Yet the English pretend that they cannot under- 
stand this deep antipathy of the Irish people towards 
them. They are completely at a loss to comprehend 
it and the only explanation they can give is that the 
Irish are jealous of them, and envy their fine army, 
their splendid navy and their world-wide empire. 
But there are none so blind as those who will not see, 
and certainly the English must be wilfully blind if 
they can give no better explanation than this of Irish 
hostility to them. 

Though the Irish people are sensitive, they do not 
easily take offence; though impulsive, they easily for- 
give and forget a wrong; but when century after cen- 
tury the EngHsh have driven the iron of oppression 
deep down into their very soul, it is natural that there 
should settle in their heart a profound feeling of hatred 
for England which it is very hard to eradicate. How 



214 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

can the poor Irishman eking out a miserable subsist- 
ence for himself and family on a barren Irish hillside, 
entertain warm feelings of regard for England which 
deprived him of rich, ancestral estates that rightly be- 
longed to him? Why should the Irish in America 
tenderly love dear * 'Mother England" that drove them 
into exile from their native land ? We can readily un- 
derstand therefore, why the Irish hate England, but 
how the EngHsh could expect the Irish to love them 
after all the injuries which they have inflicted upon 
them is beyond our comprehension. 

What wonder then that the Irish were glad of Eng- 
land's humiliation during the late Boer War! What 
wonder that priests in the course of their ministry some 
times meet good, old honest Irishmen who declare 
that the only sin they ever commit is to curse Eng- 
land! What wonder that England occasionally ex- 
periences a nightmare of terror at the prospect of 
some Irish Fenians or Clan-na-Gaels blowing up Lon- 
don Bridge and dynamiting the English House of 
Parliament! Like the Nihilists and Anarchists, who 
are the offspring of Russian and German despotism, 
these Irish revolutionary societies are the direct result 
of English tyranny and misgovernment. 

Yet it must be remembered that such secret organ- 
izations are discountenanced by the better class among 
the Irish people. The great majority of the Irish race 
are good, faithful Christians and loyal Catholics, who 
endeavor to keep all the commandments of God and 
the Church, Our Saviour has commanded us to love 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 215 

even our worst enemies, so the Irish strive to love 
even the English who have inflicted so much injury 
upon them. However, this does not mean at all that 
they may not still hate the misdeeds of England. It 
is true we are bound to love our enemies, but we are 
not obliged to love their evil deeds; so, when the Irish 
express their dislike of England, as a general rule, it 
is not Britain herself or her inhabitants that they hate 
but only their wrong-doing, and it is perfectly lawful 
to speak out boldly against ^vrong wherever it exists. 
Englishmen may call this envy if they please, but it 
would be an exceedingly difficult task for them to 
prove the Irish guilty of it. In order to convict any- 
one of a crime in a court of justice the first thing to 
do is to establish a motive for his criminal act, and 
unless this can be proved it will be impossible to 
condemn him. But the Irish people have absolutely 
no motive for envying England. To be envious of 
anyone implies that he has some accomplishment, 
virtue, or property which we do not possess, but 
which we covet. Now^ what has England that Ireland 
would wish to acquire ? Where is the Irishman, be he 
ever so poor, who would desire te possess the rapacity 
of England and to have all her robberies and spolia- 
tions weighing down upon his soul? No! not for 
the whole world would the Irish with all their pover- 
ty change places with England, for she has certainly 
a dark record which is not at all to be envied. I am 
quite sure the Irish would not grudge England her 
possessions if she had acquired them honorably and 



3i6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

had not so grievously injured Ireland herself. How 
strange that the Irish are never accused of being 
envious of France, Russia, and the United States! 

No doubt there are envious individuals of the Irish 
race as well as of all other races, but we cannot admit 
that envy is a sin specially peculiar to the Irish people 
as a whole. Envy is one of the seven capital sins and 
all races have a fair share of it. Cain, the first mur- 
derer, who killed his brother Abel, was never accused 
of being an Irishman. But if the Irish are envious of 
England because they denounce her robberies and 
spoliations, on the very same principle the whole 
world must be jealous of her, for she is to-day hated 
by nearly every other nation under heaven. She has 
not a friend in the world except Pagan Japan, which 
befriends her for her own selfish interest. 

But has England herself been ever envious ? Cer- 
tainly not, the poor, guileless creature! She is like a 
little, innocent lamb and the other nations of the world 
like envious wolves prowling around her. Neverthe- 
less, can England satisfactorily explain why in the 
penal days she strictly forbade Ireland to engage in 
commerce until British trade was firmly established 
in all the markets of the world ? Was it not because 
she was envious of Irish competition? Again, why 
did she goad the Irish people into rebellion so as to 
have a pretext for taking away their Parliament in 
1800? Was it not because she was jealous to see 
Ireland prospering so much under Home Rule ? 

Now England has no longer any reason to be 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 217 

envious of Erin, because poor Ireland is down in the 
dust, her population has dwindled to a handful, her 
commerce destroyed by adverse English legislation 
and England has already acquired all the markets of 
the world. It is therefore now perfectly safe for 
England to ask Ireland with mock gravity why the 
Irish people do not compete with the English in a fair 
field for the c.om_merce of the universe. 

But there are three other nations of whom England 
is insanely envious; they are the United States, Ger- 
many and Russia. For many years the United States 
and Germany have been underselling England in all 
the markets of the world, until finally Englishmen had 
the humiliation of seeing American goods sold in Eng- 
land cheaper than they could manufacture goods of 
the same quality at home. Wliat pangs of envy must 
have filled the heart of England on beholding such a 
national disgrace! Wliat wonder that poor Joseph 
Chamberlain in desperation thought he would remedy 
matters by abolishing the old English system of Free 
Trade, and establishing a tariff in England, like that 
of the United States ! But unfortunately his scheme 
seems to have proved a failure. 

Though England pretends to be the special friend 
of the United States, there is no other country in the 
world of which she is more envious, because she re- 
gards this country as her most dangerous rival. One 
very remarkable thing about an Englishman is that 
he is very clever in concealing his feelings. If an 
Irishman is envious of anyone he lets the whole world 



ai8 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

know it, but an Englishman may be full of envy to- 
wards a person and yet pretend to be his best friend. 
But actions speak louder than words. In spite of all 
England's protestations of friendship for this country, 
Americans cannot forget how, during the Civil War, 
she manifested her hidden envy by subsidizing the 
Southern Confederacy and fitting out the Alabama 
to prey upon American commerce. 

England's envy of the United States in the West is 
rivalled only by her jealousy of Russia in the East. 
Who can count how many nights English statesmen 
must have remained awake fearing that when they 
arose in the morning they might find the Russian 
Bear with one huge paw upon China and the other 
upon India ? Who can be ignorant that it was this 
English jealousy which brought about the present 
inhuman war between Russia and Japan? Afraid 
herself to attack the great Colossus of the North, 
England cunningly pushed Japan into the conflict, 
but though so far victorious, in all likelihood, the 
little brown men will yet pay dearly for their fool- 
hardiness in becoming the tools of England. 

It is perfectly clear then that the English have more 
than their share of envy and the Irish have no mo- 
nopoly of this despicable vice. Yet it is unfortunately 
true that the Irish people sometimes lend coloring 
to this accusation by their petty quarrels among 
themselves and their thoughtless remarks about one 
another in the presence of strangers. It is but too 
true that there has been a great deal of civil dissen- 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 219 

sions in Ireland from the time Malachy and Brian 
Boru fought for the sovereignty of the island 
down to the five-cornered wrangle between Sexton, 
McCarthy, Healy, Dillon, and Redmond to determine 
who should be the leader of the Irish Parliamentary 
Party. The Irish in America folded their arms and 
looked calmly on whilst this faction fight wasted the 
strength of their countrymen at home, simply protest- 
ing that such a lamentable state of things could never 
exist amongst themselves in t\iis enlightened country. 
Yet when recently, for the second time in American 
history, a noble Irishman was nominated as candidate 
for Mayor of this Puritan City of Boston, was it not 
another member of his own race that stabbed him in 
the back and for a time impeded his advancement? 
But it was only for a brief period, because Mr. Collins 
has since been twice triumphantly elected by such a 
flattering majority of votes as no chief magistrate of 
the city ever received before, whilst the man who be- 
trayed him is supposed to he politically dead for all 
future time. 

However, to be just to all parties concerned, I really 
believe that these factional brawls of our race spring 
not from envy but from pride. Though the English 
writer Thackeray, on his visit to Ireland got the im- 
pression that the Irish were too humble, being lack- 
ing in confidence, and self-assertiveness, nevertheless 
some individuals of our race are proud and ambitious 
enough. So I feel quite certain that no Irishman 
ever strikes down another because he envies him, but 



220 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

simply because, through a foolish pride, he considers 
himself the better man and consequently more worthy 
of honor and position than his neighbor . 

Sometimes, too, Irish- Americans and Irish people 
who have been here for a long time give a very bad im- 
pression of the members of their own race by accusing 
them of envy without sufficient grounds. Because 
they happen to have been born here or to have be- 
come American citizens by naturalization, they seem 
to imagine that they are immeasurably above those 
who only recently emigrated from Ireland. If in the 
course of time they have secured a good position or 
accumulated a little property, they suspect that the 
new arrivals must be envious of them. If they are in 
business and have a little store each and everyone 
expects every other Irishman to trade with him alone. 
Otherwise he concludes that they are jealous of him 
and refuse him their patronage for fear he might 
become too wealthy; but that is all the most ridicu- 
lous nonsense imaginable. As a general rule, the 
Irish people, wherever they may be, like everybody 
else, trade where they receive the best goods at the 
lowest price. Who can blame them for that ? Besides 
many of them are poor people and have only small 
purchases to make; so they prefer to go where they 
are not known at all in order that their neighbors 
may not know all about their business. Indeed, it 
is a well-known fact 'that some store-keepers foolishly 
gossip about the business of their customers. Con- 
sequently it is no wonder that some people prefer 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 221 

to trade with strangers rather than with their next- 
door neighbors, not from any ill-will or envy, however, 
but simply from motives of prudence. 

If Englishmen were estimated by the same standard 
with which Irishmen are judged, how frequently we 
should find them guilty of the sin of envy! Irishmen 
are not the only ones who quarrel among themselves. 
Englishmen, too, have had still greater intestine wars 
and civil dissensions, as we have seen in Part I., 
Chapter III. But it is not at all necessary to go back 
to ancient of mediaeval history in order to prove this ; 
for have not English statesmen indulged in many petty 
wrangles and jealousies even in our own day? 

Who has forgotten the famous split in the English 
Liberal Party a few years ago ? If Chamberlain had 
been an Irishman then, he might have been accused of 
being envious of the late Mr. Gladstone, then Prime 
Minister of England. It would have been alleged that 
his object in withdrawing from his former associates 
and forming an independent party was to drive the 
"Grand Old Man" out of office, so that himself might 
come into power at the head of a Unionist ministry. 

Indeed, if the late Tory leader, Lord Salsbury, him- 
self had been an Irishman it would have been asserted 
that he was jealous lest Chamberlain might suc- 
ceed him as Premier of England ; so the wily old Tory 
stole a march on the Colonial Secretary by taking ad- 
vantage of an accident which befell him, to resign 
from office and have his own nephew,' Mr. Balfour, 
appointed as his successor. Then the gossips would 



332 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

declare how bitterly Chamberlain resented this polit- 
ical strategem, how intensely envious of the new Prime 
Minister, he was, and how, although feigning to be 
his greatest friend, he was in reality only waiting for 
the very first opportunity to hurl him from ofhce and 
get his position himself. No doubt they would have 
considered their surmises completely justified when 
soon afterwards Chamberlain, began agitating for the 
repeal of the old English system of Free Trade and 
the substitution of a Tariff like that of the United 
States. 

They would have interpreted this as a clever scheme 
of Chamberlain to disrupt the old Tory Party, as he 
formerly rent the Liberals, to cause the overthrow of 
Balfour's ministry, and to start a popular movement 
which would land himself safely on the Premier's 
chair, on the crest of a great wave of national 
enthusiasm. 

Whether these conjectures of the wiseacres be true 
or false we are not prepared to say. If they are true 
then Englishmen are capable of being more envious 
of one another, in a subtle way, than any Irishman 
that ever lived. If they are false, may not Irishmen 
have been also falsely accused of envy in a similar 
manner? Both the Irish and the English^ therefore, 
should be careful not to judge one another rashly, or 
without sufficient grounds, for rash judgment is like 
a two-edged sword, equally destructive to the fair 
name of the Celt and the Saxon. 



CHAPTER V. 

English Unscrupulousness. 

IF it were a hidden fault, or known only by a few, 
it would be uncharitable to discuss it, but as it 
is a public fact known all over the world, it is 
no harm to refer to what everybody knows, that Eng- 
land is the most critical and censorious nation in the 
whole universe. She has always some criticism to 
pass on every country under the sun. She sees some 
abuse to be corrected, some wrong to be righted, some 
evil to be reformed everywhere. At one time she is 
bewailing the intemperance and envy of the Irish 
people; at another time she is concerned with Russian 
barbarities in Siberia and Turkish atrocities in 
Armenia ; later on she is endeavoring to remedy some 
evils existing in South Africa; and only a few years 
ago she resolved to put a stop to the lynching of 
Colored people in the United States, so that as the 
poet Kipling says : she has had to bear more than her 
share of the "White Man's Burden." 

She certainly deserves great credit for her endeavors 
to ameliorate the condition of humanity, to spread 
the blessings of civilization and "to light up the dark 
places of the earth." But for nothing does she merit 
more praise than for her effort to put an end to the 
savagery practised on the Negroes of the South. It is 



324 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

certainly high time that something should be done to 
prevent the diabolical practice of roasting alive any 
human being, whatever his color or whatever his crime, 
so that the brutal multitude may enjoy the pleasure 
of seeing him writhing in agony in the midst of the 
flames and of hearing him howling piteously for mercy. 
Only the demons of hell could enjoy such pastime as 
that, and it is an eternal shame to a great nation like 
the United States to tolerate that which would not be 
permitted even in "darkest Africa." If the American 
Government will not stamp out at any cost this in- 
human practice there is great danger that the wrath 
of God may fall upon it and blot it out from the face 
of the earth like Babylon of old. Then the Colored 
people would be the masters where they are now 
worse than slaves, for, by the providence of God, no 
people were ever yet oppressed who did not finally rise 
superior to their oppressors. I praise England for 
intervening in behalf of the poor down-trodden 
Colored people of the United States, but I condemn 
her for backing down just as soon as Uncle Sam told 
her to mind her own business. 

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that this critical, 
censorious, and meddlesome disposition of the English 
people stamps them immediately as a very proud, vain, 
conceited, self-satisfied race, as has been abundantly 
attested by many unquestionable proofs in previous 
chapters. The great pity is that England is so much 
taken up with the faults of her neighbor she has no 
time to consider her own failings at all. Hence she 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 225 

imagines that all the other nations of the world are 
full of defects but she alone is perfect. Like the 
proud Pharisee of old strutting boldly into the temple, 
she lifts her head on high and says : "Thank God I am 
not like the rest of men." 

Yet there is no other nation on the face of the 
earth that has so many faults to be corrected and so 
many dark pages in her history to be ashamed of as 
this same self-conceited, self-sufficient England. If 
she would only pause for a few moments to examine 
her public conscience how many of God's holy com- 
mandments would she discover she has violated! 
''Thou shalt not kill" has no meaning for her, for how 
often has she sacrificed thousands of lives and shed 
torrents of blood in many an unjust war of criminal 
aggression! "Thou shalt not steal" has likewise no 
significance for her. She considers that this is a com- 
mandment intended for individuals but not for nations. 
In her blindness she seems to imagine that God has 
one code of morals for individuals but quite a different 
set, for nations. Hence, according to English law, 
for the individual to steal a few pence is a crime to be 
punished by imprisonment, yet England herself steals 
whole nations and considers it no crime at all. "Thou 
shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods," she thinks is 
also a very wise regulation to govern the conduct of 
one citizen towards another, but when did England 
ever allow this commandment to stand in her way 
whenever she wished to get possession of an island or 
a country anywhere in the whole world ? 



226 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

But probably there is no precept of the whole dec- 
alogue which England so egregiously violates as the 
eighth commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false 
witness against thy neighbor." 

From time immemorial, as soon as England set her 
covetous eyes on any territory or country which she 
wished to seize she immediately commenced a sys- 
tematic defamation of the character of the inhabitants. 
An excellent example of this was recently afforded 
when the English wanted to get possession of the 
diamond fields of the Transvaal. The whole British 
press teemed with wholesale libels against the poor 
Boers. They were described as a rude, savage people 
who should be wiped off the face of the earth. The 
object of this was to withdraw from them the moral 
support of mankind and to arouse against them the 
hostility of the whole human race. England strove 
to array even the Irish against them by publishing 
broadcast how hostile the Boers were to the Catholic 
Church. Yet this is exactly the way that England 
has been treating poor Erin herself during the last 
seven hundred years. 

The history of Ireland written by English historians 
is nothing more or less than a base caricature, and 
they have painted poor Ireland in such dark colors 
that she would not be recognized by her best friends. 
But when the history of Ireland is re-written, divested 
of the black robe of calumny which enshrouds her, 
and clothed in the bright garb of truth, she will 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 227 

appear as a beautiful queen with an immaculate 
robe such as her poets are fond of describing her. 

How strange that a nation like England, which 
claims to be Christian, should thus systematically 
violate so many commandments of God without ap- 
parently the least scruple of conscience! But, if the 
truth must be told, the fact is that since the Reforma- 
tion, in the sixteenth century, England has been 
Christian only in name. Before that, the Catholic 
Church and the Popes put some check on the excesses 
of the nation, but since then there has been no restraint 
on her whatever. Accordingly, during the last three 
centuries, England has been the most unscrupulous 
country in the world. She has acted as if the only 
commandment of God was: "Get rich and accu- 
mulate wealth." In fact she seems to have forgotten 
God entirely, and to have set up as a Deity in His 
place material prosperity and lust of empire, as the 
Israelites of old worshipped the golden calf in the 
desert. But worst of all, England has stopped at 
nothing, whether fair means or foul, in order to ac- 
complish her designs. If v/e were to trace out the 
various steps by which she has built up her vast em- 
pire during the past three hundred years, we should 
be overwhelmed by one continual story of the most 
unblushing hypocrisy, the vilest perfidy, the most 
shocking conspiracy, and the most impious sacrilege. 

A certain poet has said that 

"For ways that are dark 
And tricks that are vain 
The heathen Chinee is peculiar." 



328 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

However, this is far more true of the EngHsh than of 
the Chinese. England is the most hypocritical nation 
on the face of the earth. The most superficial knowl- 
edge of her history will show how in getting possession 
of her vast empire, one fragment after another, this 
consumate hypocrite never yet acknowledged before- 
hand that she was bent on foreign conquest. Oh, 
no! That might arouse against her the sentiment of 
humanity; so she was always careful first to invent 
some plausible excuse to cover up her robbery. She 
usually pretended that her object was to reform some 
abuse, to stop the civil dissensions of the natives, or 
to spread the light of civilization and the blessings of 
Christianity. 

It was thus that she took possession of Ireland and 
India. In a similar manner she lately seized upon 
the Transvaal, under the pretext of redressing the 
grievances of her subjects who resided there. Just 
now, in the very midst of a peace congress in this coun- 
try she is anxious to discuss some alleged cruelties of 
Belgium towards the Negroes of the Congo. It would 
be safe to wager ten to one that England has her covet- 
ous eye also on that country. What consummate hypo- 
crites and knaves these English people are! Nobody 
but an Englishman could fill the role of Uriah Heap, 
so well portrayed by Dickens in "David Copperfield." 
Hypocrisy seems to come naturally to the English. 
Even Henry VTII., that monster incarnate, tried to 
cloak over his sensuality under the guise of religious 
scruples. It is also a matter of history how "good 
Queen Bess," as the English call her, signed the death- 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 2»9 

warrant of her cousin, Mary, Queen'^of Scots, yet after- 
wards raised her hands to'heaven, calling God to 
witness that she had never ^ordered, her execution. 
But the greatest h)^ocrite of all was Cromwell, with 
the sword in'^ one hand, the Bible in the other, and 
prayers on his lips as he was slaughtering in cold 
blood the defenceless women and helpless babies in 
Ireland. 

W' A great many changes have occurred since then, but 
England is to-day the same old hypocrite as ever. 
Everybody knows that it was she who instigated the 
war in the East between Japan and Russia, and now, 
whilst the advantage is in favor of her ally, she would 
like to bind her rival's hands, so as to keep them off 
India. Accordingly she has just sent out to the 
United States her messengers and holy men to appeal 
to the tender spot in Uncle Sam's heart to stop the 
cruel war in the East, because poor, sensitive Eng- 
land is horrified at the shedding of so much inno- 
cent blood. But why did she not send her peace 
messengers out here whilst she was making war on 
the Boers, or still more recently on the peaceful in- 
habitants of Thibet ? If the crafty hypocrite could 
only now inveigle the United States into a treaty of 
arbitration with her, which she could use as a sort of 
club over the head of Russia in the East, England 
would be quite happy. She would represent to all 
the nations of Europe that she had entered into an 
alliance with the great American Republic, and she 
would become more brazen than ever in her evil ways. 



23© THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Not only did England employ the most consummate 
hypocrisy in the accomplishment of her designs, but 
likewise the most despicable perfidy, in the violation 
of her most solemn treaties. In all ages, even in 
Pagan times, all nations have regarded a treaty as 
something sacred and inviolable. No greater reproach 
could be heaped upon any country than to taunt it 
with the least infraction of a treaty. "Punica fides" 
was the most shameful epithet which the Romans 
could hurl at the Carthaginians of old for their alleged 
breach of faith. But what was that to the perfidy 
of England towards Ireland? She has broken faith 
with our Irish forefathers more than once. In order to 
put an end to the rebellion of the Irish under Hugh 
O 'Neil, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, England was 
obliged to guarantee by treaty to the Irish chieftains the 
full and free possession of all their lands and estates. 
But a little thing like a treaty was not to stand in the 
way of England. Nevertheless, she did not wish to 
incur the odium of breaking it. So, soon after the 
Irish had laid down their arms, the English Govern- 
ment trumped up against the Irish chiefs a charge of 
conspiracy and high treason, in which an anonymous 
letter figured very prominently. Realizing that their 
doom was sealed, the gallant O'Neil and other Irish 
chieftains fled to the continent — the very thing which 
the English wanted. After their departure the British 
Government confiscated their estates and parceled 
them out among greedy English adventurers. 

Still more flagrant was the violation by England 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 251 

of the Treaty of Limerick, negotiated with the Irish 
during the reign of William of Orange. This also 
guaranteed to our ancestors the full possession of 
their property. However, just after the articles of 
capitulation had been signed, but before the Irish had 
laid down their arms, a large French fleet laden with 
men, arms, and ammunition sailed up the Shannon 
to the relief of our forefathers. The English General 
was now filled with the greatest alarm lest the Irish 
might disregard the terms of the treaty and again fly 
to arms. But the Irish leader, Patrick Sarsfield, 
said: ''No! Our faith is plighted. Though a hun- 
dred thousand Frenchmen came to our assistance 
we cannot break our word now." So the gallant 
Irish commander and his army surrendered accord- 
ing to their agreement; but rather than remain 
under English tyranny they sailed away on the fleet 
which had come to succor them, and enlisted in the 
service of the King of France. 

However, it was not the Irish but the English that 
were to break this solemn compact. Scarcely had 
the Irish warriors taken their departure when Eng- 
land shamefully violated the Treaty of Limerick, as 
the Irish chronicles say: "before the ink wherewith 
'twas writ was dry." But some years afterwards, 
whilst England was at war with France, these Irish 
exiles made the English pay dearly for their perfidy, 
when they defeated them at the battle of Fontenoy; 
and as the Irish brigade came thundering down 



233 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

upon the English army, their battle-cry was: ^'Re- 
member Limerick and the broken treaty 1" 

What wonder that the Irish people have ever 
since distrusted England even to the present day! 
Wliat wonder that there is a proverb in Ireland which 
says: "Beware of the smile of an Englishman as 
you would of the snarl of a dog!" Well-disposed 
Englishmen of the present day are sometimes aston- 
ished that the Irish people look on them with such an 
evil eye. But as there is a cause for everything, so 
all this distrust and suspicion on the part of the Irish 
towards England is due to her unpardonable viola- 
tion of the most solemn treaties in the past. 

Not merely has England shown her unscrupulous- 
ness by the most unblushing perfidy, towards the Irish, 
but also by the blackest and foulest conspiracies ever 
concocted by man since Judas betrayed his Master, 
Just because on one occasion an English Catholic 
driven to desperation by persecution, resolved to blow 
up the English House of Parliament, whenever after- 
wards any English adventurers wished to get posses- . 
sion of some fertile lands in Ireland, they simply 
raised a great hue and cry about an alleged "Terrible 
Popish Massacre of the English Colonists in Ireland 
by their Celtic Neighbors. '* Straigthway the whole 
public opinion of England was lashed into a dreadful 
fury by these tidings, an English army was dis- 
patched immediately into Ireland to avenge the 
supposed massacre, and before the truth was dis- 
covered, torrents of innocent Irish blood was shed. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 233 

After the carnage was over the vile conspirators who 
had concocted the whole scheme, came over quietly 
from England and took possession of the rich Irish 
estates whose owners had fallen victims to their plot. 
The first of these diabolical conspiracies was con- 
cocted during the reign of King Charles I., and it 
brought upon Ireland all the butcheries of Crom- 
well, along with the confiscation of three-fourths of the 
whole island for the plunder of his Puritan followers. 
The second conspiracy was the direct result of the 
first. At the restoration of King Charles IL, the 
Cromwellians were seized with a mortal terror lest 
he might compel them to restore their plundered Irish 
estates to their lawful Irish owners. To prevent such 
a calamity they employed an infamous wretch called 
Titus Oates to fabricate the story of another great 
Popish massacre of Protestants in Ireland. Strange 
to say, the English people who boasted of being so 
cool-headed and shrewd, had learned nothing from 
the imposition already practised upon them by the 
story of the first massacre. They became now more 
furious than ever and once more shed torrents of in- 
nocent Irish blood. But, most disgraceful of all, 
was the execution of the saintly Archbishop Plunkett, 
Primate of Ireland, a man highly respected even by 
many Irish Protestants. Though entirely guiltless 
even of the very shadow of a crime, he became a vic- 
tim to English popular fury and was legally murdered 
by being hanged, beheaded, quartered, and disem- 
boweled,''^amidst the yells of the London populace 



»34 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

July I, 1 68 1. Even Englishmen themselves are now 
thoroughly ashamed of this disgraceful proceeding 
and the great English historian, Charles James Fox, 
declared that ''The Popish plot story must always 
be considered an indelible disgrace on the English 
nation." However, what did the conspirators care 
about the shedding of innocent blood and the murder 
of the noble and true! They had gained their point, 
being allowed to remain in possession of their ill- 
gotten goods. So they and their descendants have 
ever since been recognized as the Landlords of Ireland, 
whilst the original owners of the soil were reduced 
to the condition of menials and serfs. Indeed the 
Land Purchase Act recently enacted in the British 
Parliament, and so ostentatiously paraded as a special 
favor from the English Government, is nothing more 
or less than a cool proposition from the EngHsh robber 
to sell back to the original Irish owners the very iden- 
tical property which he once stole from them. That 
very property they are now expected to buy back 
with interest, in twenty annual payments. Can we 
imagine any transaction more unscrupulous than this ? 
Yet the crowning proof of English unscrupulous- 
ness was exhibited in this Western Continent a few 
centuries ago, and that was indeed the worst specimen 
of falsehood, deceit, duplicity, dissimulation, treach- 
ery and horrid sacrilege that the world has ever seen. 
In all ages, religious edifices have been looked upon 
as something sacred, holy and inviolable. Even in 
Pagan times, the man who took refuge in a heathen 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 235 

temple was safe from all his pursuers. But it was the 
Catholic Church which brought this noblest institu- 
tion of Paganism to perfection. Accordingly, every 
Christian Church became a sanctuary of refuge for 
the down-trodden and the oppressed of all nations. 
Within its sacred precincts no tyrant dared to lay a 
violent hand. Tyranny stood helpless at the door. 
But it was reserved for unscrupulous England to set 
a contrary example of profanation and sacrilege for 
which the world has no parallel. 

A few centuries ago, there lived in what is now 
called Nova Scotia, a settlement of French colonists, 
called Acadians. They were peaceful, honest and 
industrious, loyal to God and to France, attending 
strictly to business and harming nobody. Their only 
crime was that they refused to swear allegiance to 
England. So, on a certain day, the English Gov- 
ernor, who had taken possession of the colony in the 
name of England, summoned all the inhabitants, who 
were devout Catholics into the Catholic church, to 
hear a royal proclamation. But no sooner had they 
entered the sacred edifice than it was surrounded by 
English soldiers and all the people were declared 
prisoners. Then husbands were separated from their 
wives, brothers from their sisters, parents from their 
children, and scattered all over what is now the 
United States. Many of them spent a whole life-time 
seeking to be reunited with those that were dear to 
them, and who can tell how many broken hearts were 
the consequence? Longfellow's beautiful poemj 



236 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

of Evangeline, is founded on that sad event. Nobody 
can read these sublime verses without a strong feeling 
of righteous indignation against perfidious, treach- 
erous, sacrilegious England, which did not scruple 
to use even the Church as a cloak for her nefarious 
designs. 

What chance has a conscientious nation like Ireland 
to compete with such an unscrupulous foe? If a 
prize were to be awarded for proficiency in unscrup- 
ulousness, England would easily carry off the palm. 
Ireland would appear at a great disadvantage beside 
her. The great trouble with poor Ireland has always 
been that she was too conscientious. While the Eng- 
lish have been waging unjust wars and slaughtering 
people by thousands, during the last fifteen centuries 
at least, the Irish people have never lifted the sword 
except in self-defence or for the recovery of their in- 
dependence. In private life, it is very seldom that 
they seek to be revenged even on those who have most 
grievously wronged them. How frequently do we 
not hear good, old Irish people say: "Leave them to 
God." Whilst the English would not scruple to seize 
upon the whole world, the Irish people covet no man's 
property, they seek for nothing but their own inalien- 
able God-given rights — life, liberty, and happiness. 
Indeed, it is a matter of history that during the dread- 
ful famine of 1847, the Irish peasants would not steal 
even a loaf of bread to save themselves from starvation, 
although it is always perfectly legitimate to appropriate 
whatever is necessary to preserve one's life. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 237 

What is the cause of this wonderful disparity in the 
principles and conduct of these two neighboring races ? 
It is all summed up in one word — religion. The 
Irish are an extremely religious people and have always 
preserved the true faith taught them by their glorious 
Apostle, St. Patrick, That is why they possess such 
an extraordinarily delicate conscience. That is why 
they scruple to do wrong. That is frequently the 
reason why they do not succeed better in business, 
because they are so honest. 

On the other hand, that England might not be im- 
peded by the wholesome restraints of the true religion 
she cast off entirely all allegiance to the Catholic 
Church, in the sixteenth century. Poor, deluded 
Englishmen imagined that this was a revolt only 
against the Pope, but in reality it was the rebellion 
against Almighty God Himself foretold centuries pre- 
viously by the royal prophet in Ps. II.-2: "The kings 
of the earth stood up and the princes met together 
against the Lord and against His Christ, (saying) 
'Let us break their bonds asunder and let us cast 
away their yoke from us.'" Thanks be to God, 
Ireland had no part in this uprising against the 
Most High. So in the following chapter we shall 
speak more at length of "the ever-faithful isle and 
the land of infidelity." 




CHAPTER VI. 

The Ever-Faithful Isle and the Land of 

iNFmELITY. 

E should have only a very imperfect idea, in- 
deed, of the lofty character of the Irish people 
if we were to omit a description of their un- 
swerving devotion to their religion and to God. Fidel- 
ity is considered one of the highest of natural virtues, 
and is highly prized everywhere in the dealings of man 
with his fellow-men. Where is the good, faithful ser- 
vant who is not duly appreciated by his grateful 
master ? Where is the public official whose invincible 
fidelity to duty is not applauded by his constituents ? 
But if thus we regard the fidelity of men towards their 
fellow-creatures, what should we think of the incom- 
parable fidelity of a whole race to Almighty God 
Himself ? 

But never yet has this earth witnessed a race more 
faithful to their holy religion and to God than the Irish 
people have been for the last fifteen hundred years. 
For fifteen centuries they have been always faithful 
to the teachings of their glorious Apostle, St. Patrick, 
and have always preserved the faith which he be- 
queathed to them pure and uncorrupted. If St. 
Patrick were to rise from the dead to-day and revisit 
his spiritual children^ he would find them professing 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 239 

the very self-same doctrines which he taught them in 
the fifth century. This unparalleled fidelity to their 
religion and their God is the glory and crown of our 
race. It is their proud boast that no heresy and no 
schism can claim Ireland as the land of their birth, 
and no Irishman was ever a heresiarch, or founder 
of a heretical sect. Even France, "the eldest daughter 
of the Church" has had her heresy called Jansenism, 
after Jansenius, its author, but Ireland never. It is 
quite true, the English sometimes claim that Pelagius, 
one of the heretics of the fifth century, was of Irish 
birth, but there is the most overwhelming evidence 
that he was a native of Britain. 

Not only has Ireland been ever faithful to her holy 
religion, but also ever loyal to the See of Peter. As 
we glance down through the ages over the pages of 
history, we find that Ireland never had any serious 
difference with the Church of Rome. She never had 
but one small controversy with the Apostolic See, and 
that was over the proper time for celebrating Easter. 
But this was rather a matter of discipline than of 
faith, and indeed more of an astronomical calculation 
than either. In fact the Church itself was for some 
time divided on tha,t question, some Christians follow- 
ing the custom of St. John, others that of St. Peter 
and St. Paul. But all Christians, the Irish included, 
finally adopted the usage of the Church of Rome, 
and ever since our race has always been the vanguard 
of the faith. 

England, likewise, received the true faith from the 



24© THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

very same source as Ireland, being evangelized by St. 
Augustine, a missionary sent from Rome by Pope 
Gregory the Great, in the sixth century. Though the 
English never displayed half the fidelity manifested 
by the Irish to their holy religion, to give our Anglo- 
Saxon cousins their due, we must acknowledge that 
they persevered in the faith for about a thousand years, 
until in the sixteenth century they ignobly surrendered 
their Christian heritage at the dictation of that impious 
tyrant. King Henry VIII. 

Superficial observers might imagine that the Eng- 
lish Reformation was a great religious revolution sud- 
denly efifected by the mere arbitrary will of a sensual 
monarch, but a closer examination will convince any- 
one that the seeds of that great apostacy had been 
planted long before. As long as England was a poor, 
weak, second-rate power she remained loyal to the 
true faith and was known throughout Europe as the 
"Dowery of Mary." But with the arrival of the Nor- 
mans many new elements were infused into the Eng- 
lish character that were very deleterious to the faith. 

The Normans, having conquered the Saxons, were 
a very proud, haughty, and self-sufficient race. But 
what room is there in a proud heart for the religion 
of the lowly Nazarene, Who had not a place whereon 
to lay His head and Whose fundamental doctrine was : 
"Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart." 
The most superficial study must convince anyone that 
there is much in the English character totally at vari- 
ance with Our Divine Saviour's teachings. He 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 241 

taught His followers to humble themselves, and be- 
come as little children, but how incompatible is this 
with English deceit, perfidy, hypocrisy, and unscrupu- 
lousness described in the previous chapter! 

Moreover, Our Blessed Redeemer commanded His 
disciples to practise self-denial, saying: "If any man 
will come after Me let him deny himself; for he that 
will not deny himself cannot be My disciple." But 
how completely opposed to this is the grasping avari- 
cious spirit of the English! W^ien did the English 
people ever deny themselves anything? Would they 
not take possession of the whole world if they could ? 
Just as soon as they set their covetous eyes on any- 
thing do they not resort to the blackest conspiracy in 
order to attain it, even though thereby they should 
defame the character of a whole race or shed a torrent 
of vnnocent blood? What does it all matter if they 
only accomplish their designs ? 

It is very evident, therefore, that English character 
is a very poor foundation on which to erect the mag- 
nificent edifice of the true faith. Religion, like a house, 
needs a foundation on which to rest. If a building 
has not a good, firm foundation, it comes tumbling 
down upon the heads of its occupants. Thus the su- 
pernatural virtues must be built upon the natural, 
and faith must be well-grounded upon humility. 
Otherwise it will sooner or later fall to the ground, for 
humility is the very foundation of all religion and of 
all virtue. There is no doubt whatsoever that this 
is the real secret why the English people lost the faith 



242 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

ill the sixteenth century. It was primarily on ac- 
count of their pride. Just as God punished the 
rebel angels for this deadly sin, so for a similar reason 
he took away the gift of faith entirely from the whole 
English race. If they had been worthy of that 
heavenly gift, Henry VIII. would never have been 
able to filch it away from them. 

On the other hand the Lord still preserves the faith 
in the hearts of the Irish people as a reward for their 
humility. It is true, our race is sometimes accused of 
pride but it is generally in the best sense of that word, 
as the synonyme of self-respect. In reality the Irish 
people are the humblest race in the world. The great 
English writer, Thackeray, in his Irish Sketch Book, 
marvels at their humility and relates how in traveling 
through Ireland the natives frequently asked him how 
he liked their country and how pleased they were 
when he replied in the affirmative, "as if" he says, 
"you — because an Englishman — must be somebody, 
and they only the dust of the earth." 

What wonder that the faith of the Irish people is so 
enduring, when it is built on the virtue of true humility! 
It is like the house mentioned in the Gospel which the 
wise man built upon a rock. "And the storms came, 
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it 
fell not, because it was built upon a rock." But the 
Catholic faith of the English was like the house built 
by the fool upon the sands. "And the storms came, 
and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it 
fell, and great was the fall thereof.'^ 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 243 

Though Catholicity in England already rested on 
such an unstable foundation, there was hardly an 
English king from William the Conqueror, down to 
Henry VIII. who did not do something during his 
reign to undermine its tottering basis. Scarcely were 
the Norman sovereigns firmly seated on the throne of 
England than they commenced to interfere with the 
freedom of the Church and to impede it in the exercise 
of its sacred functions. They all wanted to control 
the Church as well as the State. It seemed as if their 
ambition was to be Pope and King at the same time. 
They were constantly meddling, especially in the elec- 
tion of bishops, and more than once endeavored to 
force one of their own unworthy favorites upon the 
Church. They sometimes went even so far as to 
keep a See vacant for a long time after the death of a 
bishop so that themselves might receive the diocesan 
revenues. All these things naturally brought them 
frequently into collision with the Popes, who were 
determined to maintain the rights and freedom of the 
Church at any cost. Accordingly, on one occasion. 
Pope Innocent III., had to excommunicate King John 
and place his kingdom under interdict for his inter- 
ference in the election of the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. At another time, King Henry II., was threat- 
ened with the anathemas of the Church for having 
by his intemperate language caused the death of St. 
Thomas a Becket. 

This continual clash between Church and State 
created a very bitter feeling in England and paved the 



344 ^^^ CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

way for the Reformation in the sixteenth century. 
When a fine, stately mansion falls down during a storm 
many people express their astonishment that what ap- 
peared to be such a strong, substantial edifice should 
yield to such a slight cause. But keener observers 
might perceive that for a long time previous the floods 
had been undermining the foundation of that splendid 
structure, until finally some unusual pressure caused 
the whole building to collapse. It was thus that Eng- 
land fell away from the faith in the sixteenth century. 
During the previous centuries the process of under- 
mining the faith of the English people was carried 
steadily on by their rulers. Yet all that time England 
appeared to be a splendid tower of Christianity. Only 
just before the Reformation broke out in England, the 
Pope himself bestowed on the English king, Henry 
VIII., the title of "Defender of the Faith,'' when all at 
once the crash came like lightning from a clear sky. 
England first fell into schism, next into apostacy, and 
then into infidelity, as Lucifer, like a falling star, fell 
down from heaven into the dreadful abyss of hell. 
The fatal day had come at last. The "Defender 
of the Faith" after living with his lawful wife, Cath- 
arine of Arragon, for twenty years, set his lustful 
eyes upon her beautiful servant maid, Anne Boleyn; 
so the h}^ocritical monarch immediately pretended 
to have conscientious scruples about the validity of 
his first marriage, and applied to the Pope for its an- 
nulment. What would not the sovereign Pontiff re- 
ceive if he would only gratify the king's v/ishes ? All 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 245 

the treasures of England would be lavished on him 
with a royal hand. But what would be the result if 
the tyrant's request should be refused? Then Eng- 
land might rush into the arms of the German reformers 
and the whole kingdom be lost to the Catholic 
Church. Yet, to his everlasting honor, the Pope 
preferred to see a whole nation lost to him rather 
than do wrong, or sacrifice the rights of a solitary, 
helpless woman. 

''Your majesty," said he in his message to Henry 
VIII., "if I had two souls I might sacrifice one for 
your sake, but as I have only one I must endeavor to 
save that." So he refused to grant the divorce which 
King Henry asked for. 

However, like a true Englishman, totally unscrupu- 
lous about the means of accomplishing his designs, 
the English monarch was not to be frustrated in his 
purpose. So he determined to push the Pope aside, 
to become Pope himself, and then he could grant him- 
self as many divorces as he wished and take as many 
wives as he pleased. He therefore cast off all alle- 
giance to the Pope and under the severest penalty 
commanded all his subjects to follow his example. 
What can we think of the manhood of the English 
people when the great majority of them bowed down 
before his imperious commands ? Yet, to the honor 
of Englishmen, it must be acknowledged that all of 
them did not tamely submit to the dictates of the 
impious tyrant. Some of them rose in rebellion 
against his bold innovationsj and in defence of their 



246 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

holy faith. But he put down the insurrection with 
relentless cruelty and forty thousand Englishmen 
suffered death as traitors during his reign, for opposing 
his royal wishes. Besides, he caused the learned 
Bishop Fisher and the saintly Thomas More, two of 
the grandest characters that the world has ever seen, 
to be cruelly beheaded for opposing his divorce from 
Catharine of Arragon. Moreover, he had Father 
Forest, confessor to Queen Catharine, barbarously 
burned at the stake for denying his spiritual suprem- 
acy over the English nation. Thus he imposed his 
despotic will upon his Anglo-Saxon subjects. 

King Henry VIII. now turned his attention to Ire- 
land and did his utmost to introduce the Reformation 
into that country, but his attempt was a woful failure. 
Despite all his threats, bribes, flattery, promises of 
wealth, honors, and distinctions, not a baker's dozen 
of the Irish people turned perverts and the great bulk 
of them remained loyal to the faith of their forefathers. 

During the reign of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth, 
a still more desperate effort was made to rob the Irish 
people of their faith. All Catholic Churches, colleges, 
and seminaries were closed. Catholic education was 
proscribed throughout the whole island. Priests were 
forbidden to celebrate Mass under the penalty of 
six months' imprisonment for the first five years 
for the second, and life-long incarceration for the third 
offence. Laymen for assisting at Mass were im- 
prisoned for one year for the first offence and for life 
for the second offence. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 247 

The persecutions waged against the faith of the 
Irish people by the "good Queen Bess" were the most 
atrocious that the world has ever seen since the days 
of the Pharaohs. At the present day Englishmen of 
refinement affect to shudder at the horrors of the Span- 
ish Inquisition, but what was that in comparison with 
the English Inquisition established in Ireland by 
Queen Elizabeth! If only the walls of Dublin Castle 
and of the Tower of London could speak, what a tale 
of barbarity they would relate beside which the atroc- 
ities of the Spanish Inquisition dwindle into insignifi- 
cance! A detailed account of these horrible tortures 
would make one's blood run cold. Two instances 
may be cited as an illustration. 

In the year 1583, Archbishop O'Herlihy, of Cashel, 
was tied to a stake and his body covered with pitch, 
oil, salt, and sulphur, after which a slow fire was 
started and managed with such barbaric skill and 
civilized cruelty that the victim was made to endure 
this inhuman torture for hours without being permitted 
to expire. He was then cast into prison, but only to 
be brought out the next day and strangled on the rack. 

Another Catholic martyr, Bishop O'Hely, of Mayo, 
was in the year 1578, stretched on a rack, his hands 
and feet broken with hammers, large needles driven 
violently under his nails, and after enduring these 
barbarities for some time, was taken from the rack 
and hung from the limb of a neighboring tree. 

How many Irish Catholics suffered death for the 
faith at this period will never be known till the la$t 



248 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

great judgment day. In all probability the number 
must have reached up to hundreds of thousands and 
perhaps millions. English historians themselves tell 
us that Queen Elizabeth let loose upon the Irish people 
a greedy band of English adventurers, who not only 
robbed them and plundered their churches, but also 
shed the blood of bishops, priests, and people in tor- 
rents, so that at one time a traveler might go for twenty 
miles through the country without hearing so much as 
the whistle of a plough-boy or seeing the face of a liv- 
ing man. But the trenches and ditches were filled 
with the corpses of the people and the land was re- 
duced to a desolate wilderness. Even one of Queen 
Elizabeth's deputies, Sir Henry Sidney, assures us 
that: ''Such horrible spectacles are to be beheld, as the 
burning of villages, the ruin of towns, yea, the view of 
the bones and skulls of the dead, who partly by murder 
and partly by famine have died in the fields. It is 
such as hardly any Christian can behold with a dry 
eye." Yet, despite all these frightful persecutions, 
Queen Elizabeth went down to her grave having the 
mortification to know that her attempt to extirpate 
the Catholic religion in Ireland had been entirely in 
vain, for the remnant of the Irish people who survived 
her clung as tenaciously as ever to the true faith. 

But dreadful as was the persecution of the Irish by 
Queen Elizabeth, it was nothing in comparison with 
that of Cromwell. Despairing of being able to over- 
throw the Catholic faith in Ireland by any other 
meanSj he resolved to extirpate the whole Irish race^ 



: THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 249 

and gave orders to his soldiers to give no quarter, 
but to slay man, woman, and child, as Joshua slew 
the Canaanites of old. Accordingly, the soil of Ire- 
land soon was red with blood; there was a dreadful 
massacre of two thousand Irish Catholics at Wex- 
ford and three thousand more at Drogheda, one 
thousand of whom were butchered whilst kneeling in 
prayer before the altar. In other parts of the island 
there were massacres equally ferocious. In some 
places the houses were set on fire and the inhabitants 
roasted to death in their own homes. Others were 
roasted to death over a slow fire. Even the little 
babes in their mother's arms were not spared. Some- 
times the barbarous soldiers transfixed them with a 
spear upon their mother's breast. On other occa- 
sions they knocked their little heads against the wall 
and dashed out their brains. 

So dreadful was this persecution that the popula- 
tion of Ireland was reduced from 1,466,000 to 500,000. 
Those who survived the butcheries of Cromwell, were 
given the alternative of renouncing the Catholic relig- 
ion and embracing the Protestant faith or of surrender- 
ing all their property and deporting themselves to a 
barren reservation in the Province of Connaught, 
where it was hoped the Irish race would soon become 
extinct from hunger and privation. Yet, almost to a 
man, our heroic ancestors abandoned their houses, 
their goods, their revenues, and their wealth, choosing 
rather to be afflicted with the people of God on the 
mountain side, and in the caverns of the earth, in 



250 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, rather than 
prove faithless to their holy religion. 

But it was especially against the clergy that the rage 
of the persecutors was directed. They well knew the 
truth of the proverb: ''Strike the shepherd and the 
sheep will scatter." Accordingly, they offered the 
same reward for the head of a priest as for the head 
of a wolf. Anyone who knew where a priest was con- 
cealed and did not betray him was considered a traitor. 
He was cast into prison, flogged through the streets, 
and had his ears cut off. But the person who would 
dare to harbor a priest was himself put to death. 

Nevertheless, the priests, even in these trying times, 
did not abandon their flocks. Disguised as farmers 
and laborers, they continued to minister to their 
people during the darkness of night, and to celebrate 
for them the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in some lonely 
glen, or in the depth of the forest. Even then their 
steps were frequently tracked by English spies and 
the faithful priest was often slain at the very altar. 
Three hundred Irish clergymen laid down their lives 
for the faith during the persecution of Cromwell and 
the barbarities inflicted on most of them were simply 
indescribable. One of these heroic martyrs, the Rev. 
Daniel Delany, was stripped naked and tied to a 
horse's tail, then the animal was driven at full speed 
over a road covered with brambles and thickets, and 
rough with frost, until his body was all mangled, and 
he was covered all over with blood. Though now 
Q^e mass of brajses^ and almost half dead^ he was. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 251 

delivered up for further tortures to a guard of soldiers, 
who amused themselves by cruelly beating him with 
clubs as he lay naked on the frozen ground, during a 
long, sleepless night. Next day he was three different 
times hanged to the bough of a tree and as often let 
down to the ground, in order to protract the agony of 
his torture, but finally he was strangled with a rope, 
and thus ended his life of suffering on earth to reign 
triumphant in heaven. 

Another holy priest. Rev. Peter O'Higgins, was 
sentenced to death for the faith in the City of Dublin, 
in 1 641. The very morning fixed for his execution 
he received word that if he only renounced the Cath- 
olic faith and become a Protestant, not only would 
his life be spared, but he would be granted many great 
privileges. In reply he desired that these proposals 
should be made to him in writing, under the signature 
of the judges who had condemned him to death. He 
likewise requested that they should be handed to him 
in sight of the gibbet. His wishes were complied 
with, and, as he mounted the first step of the scaffold, 
the executioner placed in his hand the document con- 
taining his pardon on the aforesaid condition. But the 
intrepid martyr, standing on the scaffold, held up be- 
fore the multitude that had assembled, the pardon 
that he had received on condition of renouncing his 
religion, showing conclusively that he was condemned 
for no crime, but was about to die for his faith. Then 
casting the document containing his pardon, with the 



252 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

autograph of the judges, into the crowd, he heroically 
gave up his soul to God. 

Similar instances of heroism on the part of other 
Irish priests might be multiplied indefinitely, but we 
shall not weary the reader with the harrowing details 
of these frightful persecutions. If anyone is desirous 
of getting a further knowledge of the sufferings which 
our ancestors endured for the faith, he will find a 
most graphic exposition of the subject in a little 
work entitled: "Persecutions Suffered by the Catho- 
lics of Ireland imder the Rule of Cromwell and the 
Puritans," by the Rev. Patrick Moran. 

Not only has poor Ireland suffered the most fright- 
ful persecutions for the faith, but in a land naturally 
flowing with milk and honey, she has had to endure 
the awful horror of famine as the result of English 
misgovernment. Many of those who are now living, 
remember the terrible famine of 1847, when little 
children in their mother's arms cried for bread and 
there was none to give them, and strong men by the 
hundreds died of starvation by the roadside. A single 
word renouncing their holy faith would have brought 
them food in abundance for themselves and their fam- 
ilies, but they preferred death itself, aye, the slow, 
lingering death of starvation, rather than the dishonor 
of proving unfaithful to God. Thus, notwithstand- 
ing persecution, famine, and afflictions of all kinds, 
Ireland is to-day, as she has always been, the^ ever- 
faithful isle. 

In the meantimej England had made great progr^s^ 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 253 

in material prosperity, and had extended her empire 
all over the world, but she had gone from bad to worse 
in the sight of God. Henry VIII. had plunged the 
kingdom into schism when he renounced all allegiance 
to the Pope in matters of faith, yet that brutal mon- 
arch to the last day of his life believed every doctrine 
of the Catholic Church, and in those days every Eng- 
lishman had to think like his sovereign or take the 
consequences. But in the reign of his son and suc- 
cessor, Edward VI., England fell into positive heresy, 
denied the doctrine of the Real Presence, and abol- 
ished the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For a few years 
the Catholic religion was restored by Queen Mary, 
but EHzabeth, at her accession, plunged the country 
deeper than ever into the mire of apostacy. Ever 
since England has been drifting from one error to 
another, until in our own day many of her leading 
scholars, like the late Huxley and Tyndall, have be- 
come Agnostics, that is men who do not affirm or 
deny the existence of God, but simply say that they 
do not know whether there is a Supreme Being or not. 
But sadder still — there are thousands, tens of thou- 
sands, aye millions, of Englishmen, who have no faith 
at all. An English writer, by the name of Conybeare, 
assures us that the mechanics and laborers of England 
have, to a fearful extent, renounced all belief in Chris- 
tianity, and that there are five millions of people in 
Britain who have no religion at all. 

Still more startling is the testimony of the Rev. T. 
PugOj in the Church Times ^ Oct, 13, i8y6: 



254 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

"The masses in Lancashire and of London were as 
heathen as those of whom St. Paul drew a picture in 
immortal though dreadful colors. He knew the 
mobs of London and Lancashire well and he gave it 
on his word of honor as a Christian priest that there 
was no difference between them and the people whom 
St. Paul portrayed." 

The English Quarterly Review, of April, 1861, also 
informs us that "there are in London whole streets 
within easy walk of Charing Cross and miles and 
miles in more obscure places, where the people live 
literally without God in the world. We could name 
entire quarters where the very shop-keepers make a 
profession of atheism and encourage their poor cus- 
tomers to do the same." 

Even so recently as January, 1880, the Protestant 
Bishop of Rochester preaching a sermon in the Royal 
Chapel, St. James', said: 

"I lament the brutal ignorance of all that pertains 
to their salvation in which the toiling masses of our 
people live. To hundreds of thousands of our fellow- 
countrymen Almighty God is practically an unknown 
Being, except as the substance of a hideous oath." 
Who then will dare to deny that England richly de- 
serves the unenviable title of the land of infideUty? 

Yet, notwithstanding their schism, their heresy, 
their infidelity, and their agnosticism, many English- 
men have still the folly or the effrontery to claim that 
they are yet the one true Church, or at least a branch 
of th^ Catholic Churchj that their ministers are real 



fBE CELT ABOVE THE SA)CON ^s^ 

priests and that their bishops have come down in un- 
broken succession from the Apostles. It is very hard 
to understand how any intelKgent people can honestly 
entertain such sentiments. It would be just as reason- 
able for Lucifer and his followers to claim that they 
are still angels in good standing since their fall from 
heaven. "How art thou fallen from grace, O 
Lucifer!" So have the English people fallen away 
from the true faith, though they seem to realize it not. 
Holy Scripture tells us that "what God has joined 
together no man may put asunder." How then can 
our English Protestants ever conceive that they may 
with impunity thrust aside the Pope whom our Saviour 
Himself made the head of His Church, overthrow the 
order which Christ has established, deny the doc- 
trines which Our Divine Master has taught, drfy the 
Church which He has instituted, and yet remain in 
the very same state of grace and friendship with God 
as before? We may be very certain that God will 
not permit the Church founded by His Divine Son, 
nor the Pope whom He placed over it, to be set aside 
so easily. When, therefore, the English Church cast 
off her allegiance to the Pope she cut off her own head 
and became a headless trunk. It is vain for Protes- 
tants to say that though separated from the Pope they 
are still in union with Christ Who is the Real Head of 
the Church. Christ is the Head of the Church it is 
true, but the invisible Head. However, as the Church 
is a visible society, she must also have a visible head, 
for a visible body must always have a visible head, 



256 THk CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

otherwise it would be incomplete. Nevertheless, it 
should be well understood that there are not two sep- 
arate heads over the Church, for the visible and in- 
visible are morally one and the same. Christ and the 
Pope are not divided. The Pope is only the Vicar of 
Christ on earth and the successor of St. Peter, the 
first Pope, whom Our Saviour, before departing from 
this life commissioned to feed His lambs and His sheep, 
that is to rule and govern all the Christian people 
throughout the world. So, just as in the days of old, 
the savage tyrant Atilla, saw behind the Pope an angel 
with a fiery sword, in a similar manner, if the English 
people could only open the eyes of their soul, they 
might behold behind Pope Pius X. our Divine Lord 
Himself. Consequently it is utterly impossible to 
separate from the Pope and continue in union with 
Christ. Hence, when the Church of England re- 
nounced her allegiance to the Pope in the sixteenth 
century by that very act in one moment she severed 
her union with Christ also. But what becomes of 
those who separate from Jesus? He Himself tells 
us in John XV.-5-6 : "I am the vine; you the branches, 
he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same shall 
bear much fruit. But if anyone abide not in Me, 
he shall be cast forth as a withered branch." 

It was thus that England fell away from the one 
true Church. She was indeed once a flourishing 
branch of the Catholic Church, but she withered away, 
fell off the main tree, and was broken into a hundred 
fragments, so that to-day, she can be regarded neither 



tHk CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 257 

as the Catholic Church nor even as a branch of it. 
She certainly cannot be recognized as the Catholic 
Church, because there is a positive contradiction be- 
tween the words English and Catholic. The term 
Catholic is derived from a Greek word which means 
universal, or spread over the whole world. But the 
English Church is not by any means spread over the 
whole universe. It is spread over a large portion of 
the earth, it is true, but is still very far from being a 
world-wide religion. It has not a single foot-hold in 
the Continent of Europe nor in the whole of Asia 
outside of India. In fact it is entirely confined to 
England and her colonies. Moreover, it is split up 
into so many different sects that it hardly deserves 
the appellation of a Church at all. In the United 
States alone there are one hundred and fifty different 
petty Protestant sects, most of them offshoots of the 
Church of England, so that it well merits the title of 
the Camp of Babel and Confusion. 

On the contrary, the real Catholic Church which 
recognizes the Pope as its head, flourishes wherever 
the English Church exists, and moreover, in every 
island and continent under the sun. It is at home 
everywhere. It is a stranger nowhere, and to-day 
its adherents number 300,000,000 souls, whereas all 
the Protestant denominations taken together scarce- 
ly exceed 100,000,000, so that there are three Catho- 
lics to one Protestant of every sect and creed. It is 
perfectly clear, therefore, that the English Church 
has no right whatever to the title of Catholic, 



2S^ THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Nevertheless, it is highly amusing to witness the 
agitation going on at the present time among our An- 
glican friends regarding a change of name for their 
Church. Many would like to drop the name Protes- 
tant entirely and boldly assume the title of Catholic. 
But that would be a very bad sign indeed. It would 
be an acknowledgment that they are ashamed of their 
name, and when people are ashamed of their name 
it shows, as Shakespeare says, that "there is something 
horrid in Denmark." 

But I suppose that England must be true to her old 
traditions of robbery and spoliation. She does not 
consider it sufhcient to have despoiled so many nations 
of their country and independence. So she would 
now like to steal the glorious title of the one true 
Church. This would rot be the first time that heret- 
ical sects endeavored to do that. Fifteen centuries 
ago, the Donatists and the Arians claimed to be the 
only true Catholics, but they have long since passed 
away and the Catholic Church still lives. 

If the English Church, therefore, ever really does 
assume the name of Catholic she will only make herself 
ridiculous before the world. Everybody will say that 
it is an unwarranted assumption. It will only show 
up her heresy and schism in a still more glaring light 
and manifest to all mankind how vain and hollow are 
her pretensions. She has lately been putting on great 
airs over the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Bap- 
tists, and other Protestant sects, whom she regards 
as heretics and not at all in the same category as 



TtiE CELT ABOVE THE SA)CON 259 

herself. But if ever she usurps the title of Catholic, 
all these honest non-Catholics will laugh at her absurd 
vanity and convict her of being exactly on the same 
level with themselves. 

Members of the true fold can only pity this spiritual 
blindiness of the Anglican Church, because far from 
being the Catholic Church, she is no longer even a 
branch of it. Since the very first ages of Christianity, 
two things that cut off all membership with the true 
Church were heresy and schism. Consequently, 
when England fell into schism, in the reign of Henry 
VIII., and into heresy in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 
she broke the last link that united her to the Catholic 
Church. Hence she has been ever since in the same 
condition as the Arians, the Nestorians, the Donatists, 
the Pelagians, the Manichaens, and other heretics of 
ancient times or the adherents of the Schismatic Greek 
Church of the present day. 

But the Anglicans are in a worse plight than even 
the Greek Schismatics, because the latter, though her- 
etics and schismatics have real priests and bishops, 
who may validly offer up for them the Holy Sacrifice 
of the Mass and administer to them the Sacraments, 
at least at the hour of death. But the English Church 
has neither real priests nor real bishops, because her 
so-called bishops have never been validly consecrated 
and consequently the ministers whom they pretended 
to ordain are not genuine priests, but only a counter- 
feit. Quite recently this question was definitely 
settled forever by the late Pope Leo XIII. If he h?id 



26o fan CkLf ABOVE THE SAXOU 

only decided that the Anglican Church had a validly 
ordained priesthood and a validly consecrated episco- 
pate, the whole English people might have then come 
over, bag and baggage, to join the Catholic Church. 
But, even for the sake of gaining a whole nation, the 
great Pontiff could not acknowledge the validity of 
Anglican orders, because away back in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth, the line of Apostolic succession was 
broken, for Parker, who consecrated all the so-called 
bishops of the English Reformed Church had not 
been validly consecrated himself and therefore could 
not validly consecrate others. 

In order to have a bishop validly consecrated two 
things are absolutely essential. In the first place, 
the consecrating prelate must have been validly con- 
secrated himself. In the second place, he must em- 
ploy the proper formula in consecrating the new 
bishop. Now it is very doubtful if Barlow, who 
consecrated Parker had ever been consecrated him- 
self. The general belief is that he was only a bishop- 
elect who had not yet received his consecration when 
he attempted to consecrate Parker. But a still greater 
defect in the consecration of Parker was that the 
wrong formula was employed. This was the form of 
consecration found in the Ordinal of Edward VI. 
Even the Anglicans themselves soon afterwards ac- 
knowledged the invalidity of this formula, for Queen 
Elizabeth declared that by virtue of her supremacy as 
head of the Church she supplied whatever defects were 
in the ritual, and more than fifty years afterwards the 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAtON 261 

form of consecration was changed entirely in the Eng- 
lish Ritual. Is not this a tacit avowal that the first 
formula was invalid? As a result all the clergymen 
of the English Church to-day, from the Archbishop 
of Canterbury down to the humblest minister, are 
only laymen pure and simple, arrayed in clerical garb. 
Not only has England proved unfaithful to the 
Church instituted by Christ, but she has likewise re- 
jected many of the Saviour's teachings. If St. Augus- 
tine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, were to rise 
from the dead to-day and revisit his former diocese, 
he would say to the present incumbent of that See: 
"You are not my successor, for I and my successors 
were in union with the Pope and acknowledged his 
supremacy. We also believed in the Holy Sacrifice 
of the Mass, the Sacrament of Confession, the doc- 
trine of Purgatory, the Blessed Virgin Mary's inter- 
cessory power, the invocation of the saints, and the 
veneration of their relics. We also insisted on the 
sanctity of the marriage bond and taught most em- 
phatically that there was no such thing as divorce; 
but all these things you have denied. You are now 
striving to restore Confession and the Mass, but it is 
too late, for you have no longer a priesthood, and with- 
out priests it is impossible to have Sacrifice or Sacra- 
ments. You are now endeavoring to enact against 
divorce, laws almost as stringent as those of the Cath- 
olic Church, but is not this a sign that your legislation 
on that subject hitherto has been all wrong? In fact, 
the divorce of Henry VIII. was the original sin of 



^6^ THE CELT ABOVE THk SAXOU 

your Church, the very cause of its origin, and the very 
foundation of your creed. Why have you proved so 
unfaithful to the doctrines which I taught you?" 

How different has been the conduct of the ever- 
faithful Irish from that of this land of infidelity! It 
is true poor Erin, as a reward for her fidelity, seems 
to have so far received nothing but sufferings, whilst 
faithless England has met with the greatest prosperity. 
But that is the very best proof of the existence of a 
future state of rewards and punishments, where 
wrongs will be righted, where the wicked will receive 
their just chastisements and the just their due recom- 
pense. 

Ireland's afflictions may be only blessings in dis- 
guise from the hand of God. There is no doubt that 
her persecution by Queen Elizabeth and Cromwell 
filled the courts of heaven with Irish saints, and if 
people still retain their terrestrial language in the celes- 
tial regions, for many years afterwards there must 
have been more Irish spoken in heaven than all other 
languages together. There is one place at least where 
the Celt is above the Saxon. That is in heaven, 
whence the Irish martyrs now look down upon their 
English persecutors, and we may be certain that a 
humble peasant from Erin would not change place 
with a sovereign of England. Now they all realize 
the truth of Our Lord's words: "Blessed are the 
poor and blessed are they that suffer persecution 
for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 263 

heaven," but *'Woe to those who laugh for they shall 
mourn and weep." 

On the other hand God may be rewarding the Eng- 
lish with temporal prosperity as a recompense for 
whatever good they may have accomplished here be- 
low. There is no doubt that England has conferred 
upon mankind some of the greatest blessings of civil- 
ization. If we were indebted to her for nothing else 
but the steam-engine and the railway we should owe 
her a great debt of gratitude. Perhaps, therefore, 
as God cannot reward Englishmen in the next world 
because of their great infidelity to Him, He is requiting 
them for the benefits which they have bestowed on 
humanity in this life. But that is the only reward 
which they shall ever receive. As Our Lord Himself 
said: "Amen I say to you they have received their 
reward." 

Yet it must be remembered that temporal prosperity 
does not always come from God. It is sometimes the 
result of dishonesty. In fact it is sometimes the wages 
of sin and of infidelity to God. Did not Satan himself 
once ofi"er to give our Saviour all the kingdoms of the 
world if he would kneel down and adore him ? How 
much of England's prosperity comes from her own 
industry, how much as a reward from God, how much 
from her dishonesty and spoliation, and how much 
from an evil source we are not prepared to say. But 
it is certain that the English frequently allege that 
their religion is a great drawback to the Irish 
peoples that it checks their progress^ and prevents 



264 l'^^ CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

them from making headway in the great commercial 
struggle of the age. There may be some truth in this. 
There is no doubt that a nation without any conscience 
or any religion has a great advantage over a conscien- 
tious, religious people like the Irish. As the poet 
Shakespeare says: "It is conscience that makes 
cowards of us all." It is certain that the ten com- 
mandments of God and the six precepts of the 
Church exercise a wholesome moral influence over 
our race. If the Irish had no conscience and no 
religion, they would be much better able to compete 
with the unscrupulous Anglo-Saxon. 

Yet, who knows but England may soon be punished 
for all her wickedness and Ireland amply rewarded 
for her fidelity, even in this world? Iniquity shall 
not always triumph nor virtue be forever trampled 
under foot, even in this life. The Lord never intended 
that His faithful children should be ever the foot- 
stools of imbelie vers on this earth. "No! No! God 
is just." We shall, therefore, in our final chapter, 
cast a prospective glancfe over "The Future of the 
Celt and the Saxon." 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Future of the Celt and the Saxon. 

GOD alone knows the future and we make no 
claim to be a prophet or a clairvoyant who 
can foresee things to come. Yet, as Our 
Saviour says in the Gospel, every intelligent man 
should be able to "read the signs of the times." But 
all signs seem to indicate that England is on the down- 
ward path, that a new day of freedom is dawning for 
Ireland, and that the time is not far distant when she 
will once more take her place among the nations of 
the earth. 

The best way to judge the future is by the past. 
Now we know from history that every nation has had 
its rise, and its fall, its day of glory and its time of de- 
cay. A nation is like an individual — it is born, grows 
strong, lives for some centuries until it has reached 
its allotted time, and then dies. That has been the 
history of all the great nations and governments of 
ancient times. Babylon, Greece, and Rome were 
once very powerful monarchies and republics, but 
where are they to-day ? They are trodden down in the 
dust. They flourished for a few centuries, then they 
faded away like a flower in the Autumn and perished. 
Scarcely one of these mighty powers endured for a 
|hous3,n4 yeaysj Bu| gn^lafid ^^^ already outlive^ 



a66 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

that period. In the na.tural course of events, there- 
fore, the time of her dissolution must be close at hand. 

As the proverb says: "Coming events cast their 
shadows before." But there are very many shadows 
indeed now overhanging England, portending grave 
calamities for the future. The late Lord Salsbury, 
during the recent Spanish-American War, once sneer- 
ingly spoke of Spain as "a decaying power." Yet 
there is no power in Europe to-day that shows more 
unmistakable signs of decay than England herself. 

The first alarming sign of England's decay is the 
notable decrease of her trade and commerce during 
the last few years. The Germans and Americans are 
fast driving the English out of all the markets of the 
world. In fact, during the late Boer War, American 
firms in competition with the British were awarded 
many contracts for building bridges in South Africa, 
though naturally there was much murmuring amongst 
English mechanics, because their own government 
employed foreigners in preference to themselves. 

Indeed, America can now undersell England in her 
own markets, and American goods are sold cheaper 
in Great Britain than the English can manufacture 
merchandise of the same quality at home. A very 
amusing instance of this was recently brought to light. 
A certain American clergyman of English proclivities, 
whilst traveling abroad, thought he would bring home 
with him a nice pair of imported shoes — real English 
you know. So he went into a shoe store in London, 
but iniagine his surprise when the salesmari brought 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 267 

him a pair of shoes marked "Brockton, Mass." 
*'Well!" said he, "I guess I can get shoes like these 
much nearer to me at home, where I shall not have 
to pay any duty or tariff on them," and he abruptly 
left the store. 

But that is not the only business in which England 
is falling behind. Still more noticeable is her decad- 
ence in the iron industry. There was a time when 
England was the great iron and steel producing power 
of the world, and Sheffield steel was famous through- 
out the universe, but now all that is changed. In a 
special despatch to The Boston Herald from its Eng- 
lish correspondent, July 17, 1904, an American trav- 
eling salesman relates how there was recently held in 
England a conference of the Midland Iron Trade As- 
sociation of the City of Birmingham, the home of 
Joseph Chamberlain, and this meeting resolved itself 
into a conclave of lamentation over depressed business 
conditions. It was openly declared that there was no 
demand for either iron or steel, and that prices were 
unremunerative, competition keen, and money very 
difficult to obtain. Every branch of the industry re- 
ported depression. The iron-masters of Great Britain 
appeared to be suffering from a bad fit of the blues. 

Figures of the trade statement for the first six 
months of the year show decrease in exports of iron 
and steel manufactures compared with the same pe- 
riod in 1903. In 1903, the United States led with a 
production of 18,000,000 tons of pig iron, Germany 
was second with an output of 10,000,000 tons, and 



268 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Great Britain with about 9,000,000 tons to her credit. 
But in 1883, twenty years before, Great Britain pro- 
duced 8,490,000 tons, the United States 4,595,000 tons, 
and Germany 3,680,000 tons. In other words. Great 
Britain has stood practically stationary, while Ger- 
many has nearly doubled, and the United States has 
nearly quadrupled in iron-producing capacity. 

With steel, the results are nearly the sam.e. From 
1883 to 1903 Great Britain's steel output increased 
from 2,000,000 to 5,800,000 tons, Germany from 
1,094,000 tons to 4,849,000 tons, and that of the 
United States from 1,655,000 to 15,000,000 tons. 
Thus it may be seen how far England has fallen be- 
hind Germany and America even in her favorite in- 
dustry. 

But far worse for England than the decay of her 
commerce is the dreadful deterioration of English 
manhood during the past century. This is all due to 
her false system of civilization. England has built 
up her civilization on an unstable foundation and now 
it is tottering to the ground. With a total disregard 
of God and of religion, she has made temporal pros- 
perity the basis of her civilization, and taught her 
citizens that the one aim in life worth living for 
was to become rich and amass wealth. As a result 
there was a grand rush among farmers and laborers 
to withdraw from the pure air of the country, to aban- 
don the healthful exercise of cultivating the soil, and 
to crowd into the cities, so that they might become 
merchants, traders, and business men^ in order that 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 269 

thus they might become rich quickly. The conse- 
quence was that the country was deserted, the cities 
became congested, and people were forced to live 
together like animals in a stable, as we have observed 
in a previous chapter. 

Being thus deprived of fresh air and wholesome ex- 
ercise, no w^onder that the manhood of England has 
suffered a notable deterioration! The Royal Com- 
mission on Physical Training in its recent investiga- 
tions discovered some startling facts which must 
serve as a rude awakening to British statesmen. Ac- 
cording to this committee, during the last thirty years, 
the English people have greatly deteriorated in phys- 
ical constitution and the cities have bred an anaemic, 
degenerate class who can no longer fill the places of 
the Englishmen of former days. The average Eng- 
lishman of the present'day is greatly inferior in stature, 
in weight, and in physique, even to those of a single 
generation ago. In 1889, the proportion of men in 
the English army measuring less than five feet, five 
inches in height was 106 per 1,000, in 1899 it was 132 
per 1,000. In 1889 the proportion of men measur- 
ing less than 33 inches around the chest was 17 per 
1,000, in 1899 it was 23 per 1,000. In 1874 only 159 
per 1,000 weighed less than 120 pounds, but in 1900 
the proportion was 301 per 1,000. 

Do not these figures tell only too plainly a dreadful 
tale of degeneracy in the manhood of England? 
What wonder that Englishmen of to-day have no 
longer the courage, the bravery, or the physical 



170 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

endurance of their forefathers, who built up the 
British Empire! It was only lately, during the Boer 
War, that this dreadful truth was brought thoroughly 
home to the mind of England. Colonel Blake 
assures us that besides the colonial troops, the only 
English soldiers who were any credit to their country 
were a few brigades of yeomanry, who may be called 
the relics of the old English farmers. The rest of 
the British soldiers were a class of degenerates and 
one Boer could put to flight from two to ten of them. 
English statesmen must have then realized how true 
were the words of Goldsmith: 

"111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey. 
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay; 
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade — 
A breath may make them, as a breath has made ; 
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride. 
When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 

In what a dreadful state of physical weakness and 
decay must England be, when a mere handful of Boer 
farmers could give her such a fright as she has not ex- 
perienced since the time of Napoleon I.! During 
her war in South Africa, many comic American Jour- 
nals had some very amusjng cartoons representing 
John Bull as a poor sick man lying helpless on his 
bed, with all the nations of Europe assembled as phy- 
sicians in solemn consultation around his couch. 
One^ after feelmg his pulse, pronounced his disease 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 271 

palpitation of the heart, another declared that it was a 
case of tuberculosis, a third asserted that in his 
opinion it was a bad case of valvular heart trouble, 
but the majority of the doctors diagnosed it as a 
complication of diseases. 

But, as John Bull was a hardy old man, he finally 
rallied from his infirmity, though with his constitu- 
tion completely shattered. If the strain had been a 
little more severe, if instead of being confronted by 
the Boers, England had been arrayed against the 
Russians or the Japanese, where would she be to-day? 
John Bull was very wise indeed not to go to war with 
Russia but to push that young, vigorous giant, Japan, 
in his place; for it may truly be said that poor England 
has a great many maladies, any one of which must 
finally prove fatal, but worst of all, the three valves 
of her heart are affected. We refer to her three dread- 
ful vices of intemperance, immorality, and infanti- 
cide. As we have observed already, 60,000 people 
die of intoxication in England every year, she has 
600,000 habitual criminals, and over a thousand chil- 
dren are murdered in Britain annually for the insur- 
ance money. Yes, and these unnatural parents 
would coin their children's blood into money and sell 
their very souls if they could in order to get rich. 
How can England long endure such a dreadful 
strain as that, especially when we take into consider- 
ation that her birth rate is growing lower every year ? 
In 1866, the birth rate in England was 35 per 1,000; 



272 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

but in 1 89 1 it had fallen to 31; in 1897 it had sunk 
to 29 and in 1903 to 28 per 1,000. 

If the English were bent on overthrowing their 
empire, they could discover no more effective way 
than that which they are pursuing at present. When 
we see a man living riotously, wasting his strength 
in dissipation and debauchery, no matter how strong 
he is, no matter what a fine physique he possesses, 
we know that before very long that prodigal is bound 
to collapse. So, likewise, when we behold a nation 
squandering its powers, we realize that it is soon about 
to fall. 

It is thus that the English have been undermining 
the very foundation of the British Empire, by destroy- 
ing the family; for the family is the foundation of the 
State, and once the foundation is undermined the 
whole civil edifice falls to the ground. There was an 
old proverb among the Pagans: "Whom the Gods 
would destroy they first make mad." So for turning 
away from the true faith and forsaking his holy relig- 
ion, as St. Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: 
"God gave (the English people) up to the desires of 
their heart and delivered them up to a reprobate 
sense. So they became vain in their thoughts and 
their foolish heart was darkened, for professing them- 
selves to be wise they became fools." Indeed the 
worst enemy of the British Empire, the greatest dy- 
namiter, or the fiercest anarchist could not do it half 
the injury which the English themselves are inflicting 
upon it by the dreadful sin of infanticide. Gibbon, 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 



273 



who wrote the "History of the Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Empire" tells us that the immediate 
cause of the downfall of that great empire was the 
crime of infanticide; because on account of the destruc- 
tion of the family, Rome was no longer able to main- 
tain a native army in the field to defend her vast 
possessions. Consequently she was obliged to hire 
strangers to fight her battles, — but when a natioti has 
to have recourse to mercenaries to defend her, then 
her hour has come. 

If the English continue a few years more murder- 
ing their children, they, too, will have to rely upon- 
mercenaries to wage war for them, and then perhaps 
in our own day some scribe may write the "History 
in the Decline and Fall of the British Empire." But 
as the proverb says: "England's difficulty is Ireland's 
opportunity." No Irishman would like to see the 
downfall of England or wish her evil, if she would 
only do justice to Ireland. But if Erin's freedom 
can be procured in^no other way than by the over- 
throw of the British Empire, very few Irishmen would 
consider it a sin to say: "God speed it!" This natu- 
rally suggests to us the question so freqeuntly heard : 
"Will Ireland ever be free?" 

A great many good, honest Irishmen and Irish- 
Americans despair of Ireland ever regaining her 
independence. They declare that she has been strug- 
gling for freedom now during hundreds of years, 
but in vain. So the Irish people would be much 
more prosperous and happy if they stopped their 



274 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOM 

agitation and settled down to business like the 
English. 

I have not the least doubt that the Irish would be 
far better situated from a worldly standpoint if they 
had lain down to England long ago; but who would 
praise them the more for their servility? On the 
contrary, who does not admire a liberty-loving people. 
Did not the American patriot, Patrick Henry, render 
his name immortal by that magnificent outburst of 
patriotism: ''Give me liberty or give me death?" 
It is quite true that Ireland has been battling for free- 
dom for centuries ; but should we not applaud her the 
more for her unconquerable spirit ? It was only after 
a constant warfare of seven hundred years that the 
Spaniards expelled the Moors from Spain and re- 
gained the independence of their country. Yet Ire- 
land has been fighting England for only a similar 
period and there are many indications that her ef- 
forts will soon be crowned with success. 

It is manifestly unfair therefore to allege, as some 
well-meaning people do, that the agitation for Home 
Rule is a money-making scheme of the Irish members 
of Parliament, who want to make an easy living at 
the expense of their credulous countrjmen, and to be- 
come rich from the American contributions to the 
Irish Parliamentary fund. In fact, in some quarters, 
it is asserted that the Irish in America have sent over 
to Ireland enough money to purchase the whole island 
four times over. 

I have not the least doubt that, just as in all other 



r r THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 2^5 

great political and social movements, there are some 
crafty hypocrites who are agitating for Irish Home 
Rule, not through love of country but for their own 
selfish purposes. Nevertheless, it is equally certain 
that the great majority of Irish parliamentarians are 
honest, sincere men, many of whom have proved 
their devotion to Ireland by suffering long imprison- 
ment for her sake. Where can we find a better test 
than that of the true patriot ? 

It is likewise true that the Irish in America have 

contributed a great deal to the Irish Parliamentary 

fund, yet, without at all discrediting their generosity, 

it may truthfully be said that the amount which they 

have subscribed has been grossly exaggerated. In 

fact, poor Ireland herself, poverty-stricken though 

she is, has contributed more than the whole United 

States. No doubt it required all the resources of 

the Irish leaders to provide for the poor, evicted 

tenants in Ireland, to maintain an active army of 

Irish parliamentarians in constant attendance in the 

House of Commons to fight Ireland's battles, and to 

conduct an active campaign against Irish landlords, 

until by the recent Land Purchase Act, landlordism 

was practically abolished in Ireland. All this has 

been done by peaceful agitation. One step more, 

and Ireland will have Home Rule! 

Nevertheless, I am firmly convinced that the Irish 
can never win their complete independence except 
by the sword. No nation that was enslaved ever 
^regained its freedom except by war. It was thus 



2^6 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

that Holland threw off the yoke of Spain, Greece 
liberated herself from the shackles of Turkey, and 
the United States burst the bonds of England. It 
may seem strange to have a priest, who is supposed 
to be a man of peace, talking of war, but Our Saviour 
Himself, the Prince of Peace, once told His disciples 
to sell their very coats and purchase a sword. I do 
not believe that God ever intended faithful Ireland 
to be forever the slave of perfidious Britain. As the 
poet has so well said: 

"Be sure the great God never planned 
^ For slumbering slaves a home so grand." 

There is no reason in the world, at the present day, 
why the Irish people could not recover their indepen- 
dence. As we have already observed, John Bull has 
heart failure, but Erin's heart is sound, for the Irish 
people still look on the family as a gift from God, and 
the family is the foundation of the state. It is true 
the population of England is 35,000,000, whilst Ire- 
land has now only 4,500,000 — a mere handful in com- 
parison. Yet when a man has heart disease, the 
bigger his body the more unwieldly he becomes. On 
the contrary, we know how marvellous are the recup- 
erative powers of the Irish race; for in the time of 
Cromwell the population of Ireland was reduced to 
500,000; but tw^o centuries later, at the outbreak of 
the famine, in 1847, it had increased to 8,000,000. 
In all likelihood, the Land Purchase Bill will 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 277 

accomplish wonders to regenerate Ireland, and it 
would not be astonishing if, in the next twenty years, 
owing to emigration from America and natural in- 
crease, the population of Ireland would be doubled. 

Yet, when we consider that the population of Lon- 
don alone is greater than that of all Ireland, it is 
scarcely possible that the remnant of the Irish race 
still remaining in their native land can ever recover 
their freedom unaided. They must have the assist- 
ance of their kinsman abroad. The Irish in America 
are the only ones who are in a position to-day to free 
their native land. All that they need is the oppor- 
tunity and that will come, if they only watch for it, 
perhaps sooner than they expect. 

England's sun is setting, her day is past, and her 
night is approaching. Two great clouds are now 
hanging over her — Russia in the East and the United 
States in the West, and between the two of them she 
will be crushed some day. The time may not be far 
distant when Russia will seize upon India, the United 
States will annex Canada, Australia will declare its 
independence, and then England will be like a 
withered tree that has been stripped of its branches. 

That is the real secret why England has such a 
dread of the Russian Bear and embroiled him in the 
present war in the East in order to distract his atten- 
tion from India. That is also the secret why she wants 
to be on such good terms with the United States and 
wishes to form an alliance with her, so that she may 
keep her hands off Canada. This is the very best 



^78 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOH 

evidence that England is fully conscious of her own 
weakness. Whilst she was young and vigorous she 
never sought for alliances, but boasted of her "splen- 
did isolation." However, the late Boer War showed 
her up terribly in all her feebleness and decay; so now 
she would like to lean on the strong arm of Young 
America. But if only our "English cousins" knew 
how their efforts at aUiance are caricatured in the 
American press, they would cease all talk forever of 
an alliance with the United States. Only a few days 
ago, there was a famous cartoon of this nature in 
the Boston Herald. It represented King Edward VII. 
tickling Uncle Sam with the feather of English flattery, 
saying: "Your navy is great," but Uncle Sam's reply 
was: "He thinks he'll tickle me into an alliance with 
him." So Americans are now convinced that Eng- 
land would have to be kicked into a quarrel with 
them, because she knows what would happen if she 
came into collision with the United States. 

Nevertheless, it is morally certain that two great 
naval powers like America and Great Britain will 
sooner or later come into conflict over Canada, the 
Panama Canal, the partition of China or some other 
bone of contention. Then the United States navy 
will reduce all the British navy to fragments, for 
the American ships are all modern vessels, whilst the 
English navy is mostly antiquated and will be proved 
as degenerate as her army. The United States is un- 
doubtedly the only power that has the ships and the 
resources to wrest the command of the sea from 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 279 

England. Sometimes we find fault because the United 
States is making such an effort to build up her navy, 
but that may be the very means which the Providence 
of God is designing to scourge England for all the 
injustice and robbery that she has inflicted on Ireland 
and all the innocent blood she has shed. 

Thus Ireland's opportunity may come before she 
is aware of it. If a man like Roosevelt is then in the 
presidential chair he will know well that the best way 
to fight England is to send an army of 50,000 Irish- 
men into Canada to strike a blow at their old enemy. 
After the English navy has been defeated at sea he 
will send 50,000 more Irish-Americans to kindle the 
flames of revolt in Ireland and keep the English busy 
there. Once the English navy was destroyed England 
could not hold Ireland in subjection for twenty-four 
hours, and the whole British Empire would come 
crumbUng to the ground. Then would be fulfilled 
for England the prophetic words of St. John concern- 
ing the fall of Rome, Apoc. XVIII.-2: 

"(England) the great is fallen, is fallen and is be- 
come the habitation of devils and the hold of every 
unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and 
hateful bird." 

"And I heard another voice from heaven saying: 
Go out from her My people that you be not partakers 
of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues; 
for her sins have reached into heaven and the Lord 
hath remembered her iniquities." 

"Render to her as she also hath rendered to you; 



28o THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

and double unto her double according to her works; 
in the cup wherein she hath mingled mingle ye double 
unto her." 

"As much as she hath glorified herself and lived in 
delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to 
her; because she saith in her heart: I sit a queen and 
am no widow, and sorrow I shall not see." 

' 'Therefore shall her plague come in one day, 
death and mourning and famine, and she shall be 
burnt with the fire, because God is strong Who shall 
judge her." 

"And the kings of the earth shall weep over her 
when they shall see the sm^oke of her burning, stand- 
ing afar off for fear of her torments saying: 'Alas! 
alas! that great city (London), that mighty city, for 
in one hour is thy judgment come'." 

"And the merchants of the earth shall weep and 
mourn for her saying: Aas! alas! that great city, 
which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet 
and was gilt with gold and precious stones, and pearls 
for in one hour are so great riches come to nought." 

"And every ship-master and all marines that sail 
the sea stood afar off and cried, seeing the place of 
her burning saying: What city is like to this great city ? 
And they cast dust upon their heads and cried weep- 
ing and mourning saying: Alas! alas! that great city 
wherein all were made rich, that had ships at sea by 
reason of her prices, for in one hour she is made 
desolate." 

"And the voice of harpers and of musicians shall be 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 281 

found no more in her, and the voice of the bridegroom 
and the voice of the bride shall be heard no more in 
her, for in her was found all the blood of saints and 
of all that were slain upon the earth." 

It is only when England is thus thoroughly hum- 
bled that she will return to the true faith — the faith 
of her fathers. Some authors claim that she will 
never be Catholic again, because she once threw away 
the true faith, which is a gift of God, and God's graces 
once rejected are usually never offered again. But, in 
reality, she did not cast away the faith, it was torn from 
her forcibly by Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. 
Indeed it was only by a desperate struggle that it was 
wrenched away from her, after many English martyrs 
had lain down their life in its defence. Consequently 
there is still hope for England, because "the blood of 
martyrs is the seed of the Church." It is not surpris- 
ing therefore that during the past century there has 
been a marked tendency among leading Englishmen 
to return to the bosom of the Catholic Church. It 
is well known how the Oxford Movement brought 
into the true fold some of the brightest intellectual 
lights in all England, such as Cardinal Wiseman, 
Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Manning, Father Faber, 
and Henry George Ward. This started a regular ex- 
odus of converts from Anglicanism to Catholicity, so 
that the English Church became alarmed, fearing that 
she would be entirely deserted. Accordingly, she en- 
deavored to make people believe that she herself was 
the true Church by stealing the livery of the Catholic 



282 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

Church, by introducing the Confessional and a blas- 
phemous imitation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 
by calling her ministers priests, a name which she 
once hated, and by coimterfeiting all the externals of 
Catholicity as closely as possible. But all her artifices 
were in vain, for the tendency of Englishmen Rome- 
wards is still undiminished, and only a few years ago 
Lord HaHfax, of England, advocated a wholesale re- 
turn of Anglicans to the Catholic Church. 

However, there is one great obstacle to the return 
of the whole British nation to the Catholic religion — 
that is pride. But how could the tiny mustard seed 
of the true faith take deep root on the barren rock of 
pride ? The English are stiU so puffed up "^ith pride 
by reason of their great na\y, their large army, and 
their mighty empire that aU the missionaries in the 
world could not convert them. Indeed most of them 
would not Hsten to the Voice of God HimseK. WTiere- 
fore the Lord will destroy all these vanities which 
have stolen from Him the hearts of His people; and 
then England wiU realize the truth of the words which 
the prophet Isaias foretold tv/enty-seven centuries ago, 
concerning the destruction of T}T:e: "Howl ye ships 
of the sea, for the house is destroyed from whence 
they were wont to come! Howl, ye inhabitants of 
the island! WTio hath taken this counsel against 
(England), that was formerly crowned, whose mer- 
chants were princes and her traders the nobles of the 
earth? The Lord of hosts hath designed it to puU 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 283 

down the pride of all glory and bring to disgrace 
all the glorious ones of the earth." 

When England has been thus thoroughly humbled 
in the dust then she will begin to commune with her- 
self like the prodigal son, saying: "I will arise and go 
to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned 
against heaven and before thee: I am not worthy to 
be called thy child: make me as one of thy hired ser- 
vants." Thus will England one day return in contri- 
tion and penitence to the arms of the true Church 
bewaiUng the day that she allowed Henry VIII. and 
the reformers of the sixteenth century to tear her from 
the center of Christian unity. Then will Holy Mother 
the Church, rejoice, and kill the fatted calf, saying: 
"Let us eat and make merry, because my child was 
dead and is come to life again, she was lost and is 
found." 

But the great question for Irishmen to answer is: 
Will they be prepared to take advantage of England's 
humiliation and win liberty and independence for 
themselves? They should, therefore, everywhere 
organize, at home and abroad, in expectation of the 
great crisis, which undoubtedly is fast approaching. 
They must not remain passive and expect God to free 
their country, for the Lord generally allows natmre to 
take its course, and entrusts the destinies of people 
to their own hands. Neither should they wait till 
Russia, France, or America will set them free, for 
then the nation which liberated them might seize their 
country fo^ itself a^ ^ reward pf its Jabg^^ 3,5 th§ 



284 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

United States retained the Philippines. But Ireland 
is not looking for a change of masters. A bigoted 
Vermont farmer might be just as bad a governor as 
any English Viceroy of Ireland ever was, and might 
torture the Irish priests with the infamous "Water 
Cure" as Padro Augustino was barbarously murdered 
in the Philippines, though to the eternal shame of the 
United States, his murderers have not yet been 
punished. 

What the poet said centuries ago is just as true to- 
day as then: "Who would be free themselves must 
strike the blow." But a battle for freedom requires 
men, money, ships, arms, and ammunition. There 
are plenty of loyal hearts throbbing with love for 
dear, old Erin, and all that their possessors require 
is the necessary military and naval skill. But this 
may be easily procured in the state militia and the 
United States navy. Every Irishman or Irish-Amer- 
ican who is desirous to be serviceable hereafter to 
the land of his fathers should join one or the other 
of these great training schools for a year or two. The 
Hibernians and all other Irish societies should also 
form themselves into one great federation, with a cen- 
tral council and a central treasury. An excellent 
plan to raise funds would be to have every division 
of Hibernians curtail its expenses for refreshments 
at its weekly meetings. No reasonable person 
would find fault because the Irish have refresh- 
ments at their assemblies," if they were only served 
with moderation ari4 not o^ the Load's d^j. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 285 

The Hibernians have just as much right to do so 
as the Germans, the English, and the Americans. 
Yet, if they saved up every week for patriotic 
purposes, just hah of what they expend for refresh- 
ments at their club-rooms, they would have a full 
treasury when the next opportunity comes to strike 
a blow for Ireland. People who have money may 
purchase arms and ammunition at any time. The 
South American Republics have likewise warships 
for sale at all times. If the Irish people had been 
only thus organized during the late Boer War, what 
an excellent opportunity they had to strike down the 
oppressor of their native land, to avenge the wrongs 
of their fathers, to put the Celt above the Saxon and 
the green above the red! But, notwithstanding all 
the talk and bluster of the Clan-na- Gaels and the 
Physical Force Society, they never lifted a hand. 
They made no attempt to prevent shiploads of Amer- 
ican mules from being transported over to South 
Africa, to trample down the liberties of the Boers, 
and they even permitted an English camp to be 
established near New Orleans in violation of Ameri- 
can neutrality. The trouble was that there was no 
national organization, no responsible leaders, and no 
money in the treasury; consequently the Irish missed 
a grand chance to humble their ancient foe. 

Let us hope that the next time England gets into 
difficulty the Irish will be better prepared, and have 
their plan of campaign all mapped out. But of two 
things they must beware, Jn |h§ fct place^ the^ mu§t 



286 THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON 

be careful not to violate the laws of the United States, 
for it would not be fair to introduce the quarrels of 
the Old World into this land of liberty which welcomes 
to her arms the oppressed of all nations. Besides, 
any breach of international law would call down upon 
it the wrath of Uncle Sam. In the second place, the 
Irish leaders must be cautious not to allow their plans 
to fall into the hands of English spies, who pretend 
to be patriots, like the infamous Le Caron during the 
late Fenian invasion of Canada. To prevent such a 
fatality, it would be an excellent plan to have every 
Irish society graded like the Knights of Columbus and 
to admit to the higher degrees only the tried and true. 
We may rest assured that it will not be long before 
the Irish will have another opportunity to strike a 
blow at their traditional enemy, for a nation as grasp- 
ing and belligerent as England is certain to be in 
trouble soon again. Even now it would not be aston- 
ishing if she would come to blows with Russia, be- 
cause the Russian fleet fired upon her fishermen, mis- 
taking them for Japanese. Perhaps before we are 
aware of it, Russia and her ally, France, may be ar- 
rayed against England and Japan. That would 
give Ireland an opportunity such as was not pre- 
sented to her since the War of the Roses to regain her 
independence. Indeed there is an Irish prophecy that 
it is Russia which will finally free Ireland by weaken- 
ing England. Accordingly, every Irishman and Irish- 
American should be ready at a moment's notice, like 
the Minute Men of America in 17^5, to 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXOM 2^7 

"Unfurl Erin's flag! fling its folds to the breeze 1 
Let it float o'er the land, let it flash o'er the seas! 
Lift it out of the dust — let it wave as of yore, 
When its chiefs with their clans stood around it and 

swore 
That never! no! never! while God gave them life 
And they had an arm and a sword for the strife, 
That never! no! never! that banner should yield, 
As long as the heart of a Celt was its shield; 
While the hand of a Celt had a weapon to wield. 
And his last drop of blood was unshed on the field. 

Lift it up! wave it high! 'tis as bright as of old! 

Not a stain on its green, not a blot on its gold, 

Tho' the woes and the wrongs of three hundred long 

years 
Have drenched Erin's Sunburst with blood and with 

tears ! 
Though the clouds of oppression enshroud it in gloom, 
And around it the thunders of tyranny boom. 
Look aloft! look aloft! lo! the clouds drifting by 
There's a gleam through the gloom, there's a light in 

the sky, 
'Tis the sunburst resplendent — ^far flashing on high 
Erin's dark night is waning, her day-dawn is nighl 

Lift it up! lift it up! the old Banner of Green! 
The blood of its sons has but brightened its sheen, 
What though the tyrant has trampled it down. 
Are its folds not emblazoned with deeds of renown ? 



2^8 Tilt cMlt above The saxoM 

What though for ages it droops in the dust, 
Shall it droop thus forever? No! No I God is just! 
Take it up! take it up! from the tyrant's foul tread, 
Let him tear the Green Flag — we will snatch its last 

shred. 
And beneath it we'll bleed, as our forefathers bled, 
And we'll vow by the dust in the graves of our dead. 
And we'll swear by the blood which the Briton has 

shed, 
And we'll vow by the wrecks which through Erin he 

spread. 
And we'll swear by the thousands who famished un- 
fed, 
Died down in the ditches, wild-howling for bread. 
And we'll vow by our heroes whose spirits have fled. 
And we'll swear by the bones in each coffinless bed 
That we'll battle the Briton through danger and dread; 
That we'll cling to the cause which we glory to wed, 
'Till the gleam of our steel and the shock of our lead 
Shall prove to our foe that we meant what we said — 
That we'll lift up the green, and we'll tear down the 
red! 

[Extracts from Father Ryan's Poems, by kind per- 
mission of P. J. Kenedy.] 



APPENDIX. 

In this second edition we have endeavored to cor- 
rect those errors which appeared in the first edition, 
as well as to soften down whatever expressions might 
give offence to the sensitive ears of our Anglo-Saxon 
friends. Since the publication of our first edition, 
we have become more convinced than ever of the 
generosity, magnanimity, and the nobility of char- 
acter of the Irish race. If the title of the book had 
been ''The Saxon Above the Celt" 100,000 copies 
of it would be sold in one year. But though our 
little work was certainly very flattering to the Celtic 
race, a few Irish patriots frankly expressed their dis- 
approval of it, bcause it criticised their traditional 
foes; although the author was exceedingly careful 
not to say an uncharitable word against them. 

Indeed, the severest criticism came from an unex- 
pected quarter, whence we might naturally hope for 
the highest commendation. The Boston American^ 
the Post, the Herald, the Republic, the Pilot, the 
Irish World, the Freeman'' s Journal and several other 
newspapers were more than favorable in their com- 
ments. Even a French paper, Le Soleil, the organ 
of the Liberal Party in Canada, was most compli- 
mentary in its remarks. The Sacred Heart Review 
was the only newspaper or periodical which made 
any adverse criticism. 

It is difficult to conjecture how such a severe 



290 



APPENDIX 



criticism could emanate from the Sacred Heart Review. 
Some of our friends believe that much of the liter, 
ary work of the Review is now in the hands of sub- 
editors and foreman who are decidedly English in their 
sympathies and deeply resent every unfavorable com- 
ment on the conduct of "dear Mother England." 
This explains why, of late, the Sacred Heart Review 
is so pro-British in its tone; and no doubt is likewise 
the reason why that periodical has been always on 
the wrong side, just as when it recently, right before 
the Primaries of the city election, published a most 
violent attack on the nominee of the great majority 
of the Democratic Party, under the title, "Fitzgerald 
Found Guilty." We wonder what the Sacred Heart 
Review thinks of Fitzgerald now. We notice that it 
has been very silent about him ever since. 

We venture to say that the attack on Fitzgerald and 
the criticism of "The Celt Above the Saxon" may be 
traced to the same source. To this criticism we ^Tote 
a prompt reply, but the Sacred Heart Review re- 
fused to publish it. Is that the Sacred Heart Review^ s 
idea of fair dealing ? We shall therefore insert here 
our answer to the editor of the Sacred Heart Review. 
But, in justice to our book, we shall add likewise the 
very complimentary notices of the Boston Pilot and 
the New York Freeman's Journal. If space per- 
mitted, we might subjoin also the equally flattering 
remarks of the Republic, the Soleily and several other 
publications. 



APPEMDtX 291 

Reply to the Sacred Heart Review. 

In the literary notice of my book recently published, 
the first objection of the Sacred Heart Review is to 
the title: "The Celt Above the Saxon," because it 
places the Saxon in a very inferior place in compar- 
ison with the Celt. Now, as we have explicitly stated 
in our preface and also in the introduction, we have 
no desire whatsoever to belittle the English people or 
to magnify the Irish at the expense of the former. 
Many of our best friends are people of English descent, 
and, we would not, for the world, say a word to offend 
them. Our arrows are not intended for the good, 
honest, plain English people, who are the friends of the 
Irish, but for the so-called English aristocrats or upper 
class, who are the common enemies of Ireland and 
of their own race as well. We have no more desire 
to place the Celt above the Saxon than the Saxon 
above the Celt. Our desire is to make them both 
equal. But the only way we can convince these 
haughty English that we are their equals is by show- 
ing them that we are, in many respects, their 
superiors. 

We now come to the "mistakes" which the Sacred 
Heart Review alleges appear in our work. Certainly 
the Review must have been hard up for criticism 
when it declares that "It was when Washington was 
at^ Morristown, N. J., and not at Valley Forge 
that the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick contributed 
half a million dollars for the cause of American 



^02 APPENDit 

Independence." ,, Perhaps the Sacred Heart Review 
is right, perhaps it is wrong. But why spHt hairs? 
What difference does it make whether Washington was 
at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Kalamazoo? 
The fact that we wish to emphasize is that the Irish 
did more than their share to liberate America from 
the yoke of England. We are not at all envious be- 
cause others also lent a hand to accomplish that 
glorious achievement. As the heroic Admiral Schley 
lately said after the Battle of Santiago: "There is 
glory enough in it for us all." 

But, as a matter of fact, after all, what proof has 
the Sacred Heart Review that the above event took 
place whilst Washington was at Morristown instead 
of at Valley Forge ? Its only evidence is the word of 
Martin Grifl&n, of Philadelphia, whom it styles *'an 
undoubted authority on early American history." 
No doubt Mr. Grifhn is a very clever man, yet who 
has ever heard of him until his name appeared in 
the Sacred Heart Review? 

At all events, it is only another case where doctors 
differ. If Mr. Griffin affirms that Washington was 
then at Morristown, another author equally promi- 
nent, the Hon. J. L. Macdonald, of St. Paul, Minn., 
is equally positive that the Father of his Country was 
then at Valley Forge, as he stated in a public lecture 
on February i8, 1891; and his declaration has the 
indorsement of the Catholic Truth Society of America. 
So if the author of "The Celt Above the Saxon" h^s 



■ ^ 'AppeUMx 193 

erred^in^this particular, he will find himself in very- 
good company. 

But the Sacred Heart Review itself errs in saying: 
*'The statement on page 42, made on the testimony of 
Mr. Galloway, that one-half of the soldiers of the 
Revolutionary army were of Irish birth, is proof that 
Father Herlihy never read Galloway's testimony, 
which, if we must believe it, is disgraceful to the Irish 
soldier in the American army." Father Herlihy 
well knows that Mr. Galloway was no special friend 
of the Irish, but that is precisely what makes his tes- 
timony so valuable; for what is more precious than 
words of commendation even from the reluctant lips 
of a foe or adversary? Is not that the very highest 
testimonial of character ? When, therefore, Galloway, 
in the midst of adverse sentiment, mentions something 
to the credit of the Irish soldier in the Revolutionary 
War, his words of praise carry all the more weight. 

The Sacred Heart Review also finds fault with us 
because it declares that we have accused poor England 
of "all the crimes in the calendar." But is not that 
the plain truth? Everyone acquainted with history- 
knows that. What is the crime which England has 
not committed? 

But the Sacred Heart Review assures us that her 
history is "not by any means a record of unrelieved 
gloom. For instance, why blind our eyes to the splen- 
did freedom accorded under the British flag to the 
Catholic Church?" Yet, we know that until about 
half century ago Catholics had no religious liberty; 



294 APPENDIX 

but were practically slaves. History tells us how 
cruelly they were persecuted and how thousands of 
them suffered martyrdom for their faith. Even yet, 
the British monarch at his coronation is obliged to 
take an oath which is a direct insult to every Catho- 
lic in his dominions; for he has to abjure his belief in 
the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Sacrifice 
of the Mass. This is a specimen of "the splendid 
freedom accorded under the British flag to the Cath- 
olic Church." 

The Sacred Heart Review likewise accuses us of 
decrying English genius. For instance it asks: "Why 
should we class Shakespeare as a third-rate poet? 
Why should we say that the English have great nov- 
elists only because they are great liars?" Now we 
have never made such an allegation against Shake- 
speare; and if our critic can find such a statement in 
"The Celt Above the Saxon" we guarantee to sub- 
scribe for a hundred copies of the Sacred Heart 
Review. 

It is quite true that we have questioned Shake- 
speare's right to be called a first-rate poet, because 
of his well-known plagiarisms from the Italian poets 
Tasso and Ariosto. But we never degraded him to 
the level of a third-class poet. If we had, we should 
gladly apologize in our second edition, and promptly 
promote him to the second class. But we have not 
the slightest doubt that the English poet, Kipling, of 
the present day will soon supplant Shakespeare; 
for he is a far better representative of the English 



APPENDIX 295 

jingo and he knows how to flatter the national 
vanity of Englishmen, even better than the bard of 
Stratford-on-Avon, of the sixteenth century. 

We also deny saying, according to the Sacred Heart 
Review, that: "The English were great novelists 
because they were great liars." We challenge any- 
one to find such a statement in any part of our pub- 
lication. If the reader will turn to page 141, where 
the question has been dealt with, he will realize how 
materially our treatment of the subject differs from 
the garbled account of the Sacred Heart Review. 
We should not be so impolite as to employ such rude 
language even to a foe; though everybody knows how 
truthful English historians are, especially in dealing 
with Irish topics. 

But is it not astonishing that the Sacred Heart 
Review, a Catholic periodical, which boasts so loudly 
of its love of truth and fairness, should be guilty of 
such a gross distortion of facts? 

Whilst the Review accuses us of marked partiality 
for the Celt, in the same breath it calmly assures us 
that "Father Herlihy's reference to the sin of intem- 
perance among the Irish in this country is not pleas- 
ant reading." But, at least, it is an indication that we 
have endeavored to be fair to both races. If we have 
lashed the grasping spirit of the English, we have not 
overlooked the faults and failings of the Irish. On the 
contrary, if we may judge from its general tone 
of hostility to everything Irish, we may lawfully infer 
that the Sacred Heart R.eview considers it alnios| a 



29(5 APPMNDIX 

mortal sin for an Irishman to regard himself as the 
equal of the lordly Englishman. But, though we have 
criticised the English poet, Shakespeare, we agree with 
him perfectly in the sentiment that "The English 
were no lions were not some Irishmen hinds." 

However, our crowning sin, in the eyes of the 
Sacred Heart Review was in advising the Irish people 
at home and abroad to watch for their opportunity 
to regain the freedom and independence of their 
country. What a dreadful sin! The Sacred Heart 
Review must consider this an unpardonable sin; 
for it assures us that it filled its tender soul with 
"astonishment and regret." Yet this was the sin 
committed by the heroic William Tell, when he freed 
his beloved Switzerland from the yoke of Austria; 
the sin of Greece, when it wrested its liberty from 
the despotism of Turkey; and the sin of our own great 
Washington, when he delivered his country from the 
tyranny of Great Britain. If it is wrong for Irish- 
men at the present day to seek for their country^s 
freedom, it was equally wrong for the American 
patriots to fight the Battle of Bunker Hill, more than 
a century ago. 

But as a matter of fact, reason and common sense, 
as well as the American Declaration of Independence, 
and even conservative Catholic theology, teach us 
that war is sometimes legitimate, for example, when 
it is waged by a nation in self-defense or to recover its 
rights and liberties. We read in the American Dec- 
lara|ion of In4epen4e^c^ that; "All men arf cr?p,te4 



APPENDIX ^f 

equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure 
these rights governments are instituted among men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed; that whenever any form of government 
becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of 
the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a 
new government. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes. But when a 
long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invari- 
ably the same object, to reduce the people to abso- 
lute despotism, it is their duty to overthrow such a 
government and to provide new guards for their future 
safety." 

So likewise St. Thomas Aquinas, probably the 
greatest philosopher and theologian that the world 
has ever produced, assures us that: ''They are praised 
who deliver the people from tyrannical power; but 
this cannot easily be done without some sedition among 
the people, where one part of the people tries to re- 
tain the tyrant and the other tries to reject him; 
therefore sedition may be made without sin. This 
is not to excite sedition but to cure it." 

Now, where in all this wide world is there another 
country that has been so shamefully tyrannized over 
as Ireland has been? She has been deprived of her 
liberty, her happiness, her prosperity, and all her in- 
9,lienablf rights. She has been__r^duce4 to the yergf 



sgS APPENDIX 

of slavery, and even her very existence jeopardized. 
Where is the lover of freedom, then, whose very heart 
has not shrivelled up in chains and slavery, who will 
deny that Ireland would have a perfect right, if a 
fair opportunity presented itself, to make another 
gallant effort to regain her ancient independence 
and all her God-given rights, that have been ruthlessly 
torn away from her by the tyrannical English Govern- 
ment? In the words of the poet the man who would 
not work for his country's freedom, 

"Is all a knave or half a slave 
Wlio treats his country thus." 

Of course the Irish would be very foolish indeed 
thoughtlessly to rush into rebellion without having 
first thought well on the seriousness of the step or 
without having made adequate preparation for a 
long struggle against the whole power of the British 
Empire. But if they were only thoroughly united as 
one man at home and abroad, had accumulated 
plenty of resources, and had a good plan of campaign 
all mapped out, they would be sure to succeed, no 
matter what the Sacred Heart Review may say. 

In bright contrast to the carping criticism of the 
Sacred Heart Review we place in juxtaposition the 
very favorable comments of the New York Freeman'' s 
Journal and the Boston Pilot. Then let the reader 
judge for himself between Jthem, 



APPENDIX 



[Comments of The Boston Pilot.] 
Saturday, March ii, 1905. 



THE CELT ABOVE THE SAXON. 



Ireland Can Rather More Than Hold Her 

Own Against Her Hereditary Enemy. 



The Rev. C. J. Herlihy, of the Church of St. Francis 
de Sales, Roxbur}', Mass., has written a book entitled, 
"The Celt Above the Saxon; or, a Comparative Study 
of the Irish and English People in War, in Peace and 
in Character." It is an inspiring book for people of 
Irish blood at any time, but present political complica- 
tions in Europe, the Orient, and America, have given 
it a peculiar value. What might once have been ac- 
counted mere Irish enthusiasm and festal rhetoric 
is now widely admitted to be the plainest statement 
of fact. 

Father Herlihy, after alludmg to the disadvantage 
at which Great Britain found herself before a handful 
of Boer farmers, says: 

"If the strain had been a little more severe, if in- 
stead of being confronted by the Boers, England had 
been arrayed against the Russians or the Japanese 
where would she be to-day? John Bull was very 
wise indeed not to go to war with Russia, but to push 
that young, vigorous giant, Japan, in his place; for 



300 APPENDIX 

it may be truly said that poor England has a great 
many maladies, any one of which must finally prove 
fatal, but worst of all, three valves of her heart are 
affected. We refer to her three dreadful vices of 
intemperance, infanticide and immorality. . . . Sixty 
thousand people die of intoxication in England every 
year, she has 600,000 habitual criminals, and over a 
thousand children are murdered in Britain annually 
ior the insurance money. . . . How can England long 
endure such a dreadful strain as that, especially when 
we take into consideration that her birth-rate is grow- 
ing lower every year? In 1866, the birth-rate in 
England was 35 per 1,000; but in 1891 it had fallen 
to 31 ; in 1897 it had sunk to 29; and in 1903, to 28 per 
1,000. 



"If the English continue a few years more mur- 
dering their children, they, too, will have to rely upon 
mercenaries to wage war for them, and perhaps in our 
own day some scribe may write the history of 'The 
Decline and Fall of the British Empire.' But as the 
proverb says, 'England's difficulty is Ireland's op- 
portunity.' No Irishman would like to see the down- 
fall of England or wish her evil, if she would only do 
justice to Ireland. But if Erin's freedom could be 
procured in no other way than by the overthrow of 
the British Empire, very few Irishmen would consider 
it a sin to say ' God speed itl' This naturally suggests 



APPENDIX 301 

to us the question so frequently heard, 'Will Ireland 
ever be free?' 



How Freedom May Come. 

^'When we consider that the population of London 
alone is greater than that of all Ireland it is scarcely- 
possible that the remnant of the Irish race still re- 
maining in their native land can ever recover their 
freedom unaided. They must have the assistance of 
their kinsmen abroad. The Irish in America are 
the only ones who are in a position to-day to free 
their native land. All that they need is the oppor- 
tunity, and that will come, if they only watch for it, 
perhaps sooner than they expect. 

''England's sun is setting, her day is past, and her 
night is approaching. Two great clouds are now 
hanging over her — Russia in the East and the United 
States in the West. The time may not be far distant 
when Russia will seize upon India, the United States 
will annex Canada, Australia will declare its inde- 
pendence, and then England will be like a withered 
tree that has been stripped of its branches. 

"This is the real secret why England has such a 
dread of the Russian Bear and embroiled him in the 
present war in the East in order to distract his atten- 
tion from India ; that is also the secret why she wants 
to be on such good terms with the United States, 



302 



[PPENDIX 



and wishes to form an alliance with her, so that she 
may keep her hands off Canada. . . . While she was 
yoimg and vigorous, she never sought for alliances, 
but boasted of her 'splendid isolation.' However, 
the late Boer War showed her up terribly in all her 
feebleness and decay. So now she would like to lean 
on the strong arm of Young America. 



"Nevertheless, it is morally certain that two great 
naval powers like America and Great Britain will 
sooner or later come into conflict over Canada, the 
partition of China, or some other bone of contention. 
Then the United States navy will knock the British 
navy into fragments, for the American ships are all 
modem vessels, whilst the English navy will be proved 
as degenerate as her army. . . . Sometimes we find 
fault because the United States is making such an ef- 
fort to build up her nav}% but that may be the very 
means which the Providence of God is designing to 
scourge England for all the injustice and robbery that 
she has inflicted on Ireland, and all the innocent 
blood that she has shed. . . . 

^'Once the English navy was destroyed, England 
could not hold Ireland in subjection for twenty-four 
hours, and the whole British Empire would come 
crumbling to the ground." 

Father Herlihy indicates some practical methods 
by which Irishmen, without any division in their 



APPENDIX 303 

allegiance to the land of their adoption may be ready 
to serve Ireland efifectively at such a crisis. Military 
skill, cool-headedness, and self-denial, with the per- 
fecting of patriotic organization, are all possible with- 
out any violation of the laws of the United States, 
Indeed, who would be quicker than Irishmen and the 
sons of Irishmen to Jfly to the defence of the Star- 
Spangled banner, no matter who was the assailant? 
— though w^e cannot deny that it would be their special 
glory to stand by it once more against England as 
they did during the Revolution, and the War of 181 2. 
But our readers must go further into this interest- 
ing volume for themselves. It is dedicated to Divi- 
sion 53, A. O. H., of which the writer is the first Chap- 
lain, and is issued from the Angel Guardian Press, of 
Boston. 



Comments of The N. Y. Freeman's Journal, 
August 12, 1905. 



The Celt Above the Saxon, or a Comparative 

Sketch of the Irish and English People in 

War, in Peace and in Character. By 

Rev. C. J. Herlihy. Published by 

THE Angel Guardian Press, 

Boston, Mass. 



Father Herlihy commemorates the eighth an- 
niversary of his ordination to the holy priesthood by 



304 APPENDIX 

offering this, his first book, to the public. He tells 
us in the introduction that he was sick and tired lis- 
tening and combating the hundreds of common, every- 
day, stereotyped lies about the Irish people and about 
the superiority of the so-called Anglo-Saxon race. 
Stereotyped lies given out by English historians and 
orators and newspaper writers, over and over again, 
in spite of the prompt refutations they always met on 
each appearance, until they become so familiar that 
they get to seem like the truth and cause neither sur- 
prise nor resentment. These slanders are not as 
"old as the hills," either; only as old as the English 
spoliation of Ireland. 

Father Herlihy opens by a brief glance at the early 
history of Ireland — at the three successive waves of 
emigration that settled Ireland not many centuries 
after the dispersion of the human race at Babel, 
dwelling only on the last, or Phoenician, settlement of 
the island under Milesius. 

*' Between the nineteenth and thirteenth centuries 
before Christ, they established many colonies along 
the shores of the Mediterranean and are believed to 
have finally made their abode in Ireland. We know 
from the Irish chronicles that Ireland had an excellent 
government of its own fifteen hundred years before 
the Saxons set foot in Britain. * * * In fact two 
thousand years before an English Parliament was 
dreamed of an Irish monarch had instituted a Tri- 
ennial Parliament to help him govern the kingdom. 

''At the present day, after eight centuries of 



APPENDIX 305 

English government, agriculture is almost the only- 
industry in Ireland; yet nearly three thousand years 
ago, under her native kings, Ireland carried on a 
thriving industry in gold mining, smelting and artis- 
tic work in the precious metals, at a time when 
civilization had scarcely dawned on other European 
countries." 

He then sketches the days of Ireland's military 
renown when ''Niall of the Nine Hostages went with 
his army thundering into France, and Theodosius 
the Great, Emperor of Rome, sent his general, Stel- 
licho, against him." 

Then came St. Patrick and three centuries of un- 
disturbed religious glory. After that the Danes 
brought trouble into Ireland, and then the Normans, 
but Ireland's history still was one of valor and cul- 
ture. Then he hunts up who the Anglo-Saxons are 
or were. Their history is neither so old nor so glori- 
ous and as the Dane and the Norman both in turn 
rode over the Angles and Saxons, the name as 
used to-day is more euphonious than ethnologically 
correct. 

But Angles, Saxons, Danes and Normans were all 
one when the plunder of Ireland was the object — 
as Ireland knows to her loss. However, the wholesale 
robbing of Ireland's lands and laws and manufac- 
tures does not form the burden of Father Herlihy's 
charges against the Saxon so much as does the sys- 
tematic and persistent stealing of her good name — 
her character — by English lies printed and spoken at 



3o6 APPENDIX 

home and abroad with such brazen boldness that they 
are accepted as facts from continual repetition. 

His comparison of the Irish and the English in war is 
well handled. He pictures many a battle-field where 
England's prestige was hurt most by the Irish sol- 
diers she met there, filling places of honor and danger 
in the armies of her opponents. Very few stories of 
great battle-fields in any part of the modern world 
can be told without mentioning the Irish Brigade in 
the front, not only valorous but successful; so that 
George II. but voiced the thought of many an Eng- 
lish sovereign, when he said after Fontenoy: ''Cursed 
be the laws that deprive me of such subjects." 

Wherever England sent her hired butchers the 
e xiled Irish soldiers met them, but in no place 
with such fine effect as in the American colonies. 

Not only soldiers and sailors, generals and com- 
modores in the Revolutionary army of America are 
to Ireland's credit, but money for the sinews of war 
was liberally, on all occasions, given — the Friendly 
Sons of St. Patrick donating ;gio3,ooo, or more than 
half a million dollars, to the relief of Washington at 
Valley Forge, Thomas Fitzsimmons alone contrib- 
uting £5,000, and that was more money then than now. 

Then in the Council rooms of the New Republic 
was Ireland well represented by her CarroUs and 
Fitzsimmons and Lees. 

''Finally, after spending, as Edward Burke says, 
seventy millions of pounds, and causing the loss of one 
himdred thousand lives, England was forced to give 



APPENDIX 



307 



up the struggle. She had lost her American colonies 
through the instrumentality of the Irish. To them 
she is indebted for the loss of the finest and richest 
country in the world. She still holds Ireland beneath 
her iron heel, although of late she seems more in- 
clined to give her tardy justice; but because of her 
past tyranny in that country she has lost a country 
twenty times greater than Ireland in population, a 
hundred times greater in size and a thousand times 
greater in natural resources — in fact, a country al- 
most as large as all Europe together. Let English- 
men boast of their superiority over the Irish. Let 
them continue to despise the Irish as a conquered 
race. The Irish can truly say that in foreign lands 
they met again their English foes at Philippi and his- 
tory tells us who were the victors." 

But in the Arts of Peace — in the realms of liter- 
ature and science and religion the superiority of the 
Celt is most easily shown. When the inhabitants of 
England were, according to her own historian, Guest, 
** little better than sea wolves and pirates," Ireland was 
the school of Europe and though centuries later her 
schools were closed by penal laws the genius of learn- 
ing never left her, but waited patiently and worked 
quietly, keeping her hidden lamp trimmed so that in 
her darkest days Ireland never lost her name for ora- 
tors and poets and philosophers and scholars. The 
Irish monk hunted abroad left his impress on the 
country of his exile and reflected a glory on his native 
hills that England could not touch. AVhile her 



30« APPENDIX 

Burkes, Sheridans, Grattans, and O'Connells lighted 
up with their matchless fame the darkness of the 
home hearth. All the while English history was being 
made chiefly of robberies of other lands and subjuga- 
tion of the weak for the sake of some material gain. 

*' English and Irish Morality Compared" gives 
Father Herlihy his best chance. 

*'The proportion of crime to population is not only 
greater in Britain than in Ireland, but it is also, of 
a more brutal character." He quotes from the Chelten- 
ham English Examiner, and with that for a text he 
strips John Bull of all the whitewash he gets or ever 
got at home or abroad. Said Froude; 

"Ireland is one of the poorest countries in Europe, 
yet there is less theft, less cheating, less house-break- 
ing, less robbery of all kinds than in any country of 
its size in the civilized world. In the wildest districts 
the people sleep with unlocked doors and windows 
with as much security as if with the saints in Para- 
dise." 

Thackeray, among a thousand good things he wrote 
of Ireland, said: 

"One has but to walk through an English and an 
Irish town to see how much superior is the morality of 
the latter." 

He quotes liberally from many prominent English 
writers describing the rudeness of English life among 
the poor. 

The offensive aggressiveness of the average Eng- 
lishman in other countries, especially in the United 



APPENDIX 309 

States is well drawn. Indeed the English national 
character is left very little to brag about and yet the 
witnesses lined up against it are such only as the un- 
prejudiced must accept. Cruelty, hypocrisy, sel- 
fishness, animalism, infidelity, are all charged, and 
proved against the English character wholesale and 
retail. There is nothing new to regular readers of 
the Irish World in all this but it is a compilation in 
a connected and compact form of a thousand facts 
concerning the histories of these two people that Irish 
World readers will be glad to have in a handy form 
where they can be got at easily. 

To some American readers it would prove a very 
necessary and useful eye opener, for there is alto- 
gether too little known of the real character of the 
British character whose want of good manners and 
the milk of human kindness is let off with the adjec- 
tive '* burly" so often. 

This is the hopeful way Father Herlihy talks of 
Ireland's future: 

" There is no reason in the world, at the present day, 
why the Irish people could not recover their inde- 
pendence. As we have already observed, John Bull 
has heart failure, but Erin's heart is sound, for the 
Irish people still look on the family as a gift from God, 
and the family is the foundation of the State. It is 
true the population of England is 35,000,000, while 
Ireland has now only 4,500,000 — a mere handful in 
comparison. Yet when a man has heart disease, 
the bigger his body the more unwieldly he becomes. 



3IO APPENDIX 

On the contrary, we know how marvellous are 
recuperative powers of the Irish race; for in the time 
of Cromwell the population of Ireland was reduced 
to 5c>o,ocx5; but two centuries later, at the outbreak 
of the famine, in 1847, i^ ^^.d increased to 8,ooo,ocx). 
In all likelihood, the Land Purchase bill will accom- 
plish wonders to regenerate Ireland, and it would not 
be astonishing if, in the next twenty years, owing to 
emigration from America and natural increase, the 
population of Ireland would be doubled." 

There are many pages like this, and it makes cheer- 
ful reading, and then comes this prophetic and en- 
tirely logical view of England thoroughly humbled 
from many reverses on land and sea, and her return 
to the bosom of the Catholic Church, from which 
she was torn by Henry VIII. and Elizabeth : 

"However, there is one great obstacle to the re- 
turn of the whole British nation to the Catholic re- 
ligion — that is pride. But how could the tiny mus- 
tard seed of the true faith take root on the barren 
rock of pride? The English are still so puffed up 
with pride by reason of their great navy, their large 
army, and their mighty empire, that all the mission- 
aries in the world could not convert them. Indeed, 
they would not listen to the Voice of God Himself. 
Wherefore the Lord will destroy all these vanities 
which have stolen from Him the hearts of His people; 
and then England will realize the truth of the words 
which the prophet Isaias foretold twenty-seven cen- 
uries ago, concerning the destruction of Tyre :^ Howl, 



APPENDIX 311 

ye ships of the sea, for the house is destroyed from 
whence they were wont to come! Howl, ye inhab- 
itants of the Island! Who hath taken this counsel 
against (England), that was formerly crowned, whose 
merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles 
of the earth ? The Lord of hosts hath designed it to 
pull down the pride of all glory and bring to disgrace 
all the glorious ones of the earth.' 

"When England has been thus thoroughly humbled 
in the dust, then she will begin to commune with her- 
self like the prodigal son, saying: 'I will arise and go 
to my father, and say to him: Father I have sinned 
against heaven and before Thee: I am not worthy to 
be called Thy child: make me as one of Thy hired 
servants.' Thus will England one day return in 
contrition and penitence to the arms of the true Church 
bewailing the day that she allowed Henry VIII, and 
the reformers of the sixteenth century to tear her 
from the centre of Christian unity. Then will Holy 
Mother, the Church, rejoice, and kill the fatted calf, 
saying: * Let us eat and make merry, because my child 
was dead and is come to life again, she was lost and 
is found.' " 



6 iyuo 



